Space Apps Challenge 2017

Background

Ifeveryone on Earth lived like the average Australian, we would need9.3 Earths to support the ecological demands of humanity. Therefore,it is important that we utilise our available land to as efficientlyas possible to maximise the amount of resources we can extractfrom it.

Thereare large areas of Australia, particularly in the central regions,with few human inhabitants. These regions tend to be quite far fromthe larger cities that lie along the coastline and generally have afar more barren and hot climate. Terra Farmers aims to investigatehow this vast unoccupied land could be utilised to grow crops to keepup with the ever-increasing demand for food.

TerraFarmer is an innovative tool designed to inform policy makers,investors and thought leaders regarding the benefits and pitfalls ofgeoengineering the unproductive regions of the expansive Australianlandscape.

Theapplication implements a state-of-the-art hydrological model andpredictive statistical analysis incorporating Big Data sourced fromNASA, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and other prominentorganisations to anticipate the impact of water resource managementand the optimal approach for the expansion of productive land.Potentially arable land is identified based on temperature, rainfall,solar exposure, topography, soil quality and groundwater availabilitydata.

Ourpotential end users are agricultural organisations and governments incountries with scarce arable land. We aim to first capture the globalmarket for geoengineering analytics with the potential to pivottowards the space colonisation industry. As the techniques necessaryto address the environmental challenges on Mars are a naturalextension of those on Earth, our tool is highly adaptable toterraforming the Martian environment.

WithTerra Farmer, engineers will be provided invaluable insight into theprospects of hydrological terraforming, giving them the ability toadd value to marginal land. Terra Farmer will expedite thefeasibility study process, optimising time management within theagricultural-industrial complex and playing a pivotal role inushering in a new post-scarcity era of peace, love and prosperity.

Resources

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

Australian Bureau of Statistics

User guide for Land use of Australia 2010–11, Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources

Groundwater in Australia, National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Australia.

DIVA-GIS (http://www.diva-gis.org/gdata)

QGIS 2.8.6-Wien