Messium is improving agricultural practices with advanced hyperspectral satellite data. Co-funded by the ESA InCubed programme, the company developed a tool that provides farmers with frequent, accurate insights into crop nitrogen levels and optimal fertiliser use, helping to boost yields, cut costs, and minimise environmental impacts.
Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients for crop growth, playing a central role in plant development, yield, and quality. In that sense, nitrogen fertilisers are crucial for boosting land productivity and sustaining global food demands.
However, the average global Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) on crops is around 45%, with more than half of the applied nitrogen fertiliser lost as nitrous oxide emissions or leached in the form of nitrate into drinking water sources, contributing to groundwater contamination and surface water eutrophication.
Behind this nitrogen loss is the imprecise nature of fertiliser application. Farmers often apply nitrogen at incorrect amounts and times, a practice driven by a lack of real-time data on a crop’s specific needs. To improve both the sustainability and profitability of modern farming, a shift is required – one that moves away from relying on broad, imprecise fertiliser application toward more targeted, data-driven approaches.
Messium, a UK-based start-up, emerges as key player in precision nitrogen management, by using hyperspectral satellite data and artificial intelligence to assess the nitrogen status of wheat crops and address sub-optimal nitrogen use in farming – something that was not possible with previous multispectral/NDVI-based approaches. Nitrogen, like all chemical elements on Earth, reflects and absorbs radiation in a specific set of wavelengths, creating a unique spectral signature – a ‘fingerprint’ – that is identified by hyperspectral satellite technology.
Messium’s methodology is built on real-world data: 20000 geo-referenced samples from wheat crops were collected, matching the collection with hyperspectral satellite imagery. These samples were then analysed to get precise measurements of nitrogen and biomass. Together, this information was used to train Messium’s unique machine learning models, giving them the ability to accurately analyse crop health from above.
Messium makes crop growth models a viable tool for farmers: the company’s innovative hyperspectral solution provides real-time, in-season data on a crop’s nitrogen percentage and biomass, filling the critical data gap that previously rendered these models unusable for decision-making. Messium integrates this live information with weather, soil, and farm management data to create a comprehensive picture of crop health and nutrient needs. From this, growth models predict the crop’s maximum and most profitable yields, calculate the precise amount of fertiliser required, and can even forecast changes in crop status.
Another key point of Messium’s approach is the nitrogen dilution curve, which maps a crop’s nitrogen percentage against its biomass to determine if it has a nitrogen surplus or deficiency, indicating the ideal time for fertilisation. By combining the timing insights from the dilution curve with the optimal quantity from growth models, Messium optimises the amount of fertiliser and timing of application, increasing the average NUE to 80-85%.
The company follows a B2B2F (business-to-business-to-farmer) model: it provides fertiliser companies and precision agri-tech start-ups with nitrogen estimation insights that are seamlessly integrated into their platforms. Then, these partners deliver Messium’s data to end-user farmers and agronomists through their established networks, allowing weekly, more precise fertiliser recommendations without requiring any behavioural changes.
Messium became one of the leading players in the use of hyperspectral technology for agriculture: last year’s trials across Europe and Australia, using more than 13,000 lab-validated crop samples, found that over 50% of fields were incorrectly fertilised, leading to wasted input costs and unnecessary emissions. Messium’s technology enables a data-driven approach to tackle these inefficiencies, supporting commercial farmers as well as broader food security and net-zero objectives.
“At a time when Europe’s food security and sovereignty are more vital than ever, optimising nitrogen fertiliser use is key. At the same time, tackling harmful nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching is essential to reaching net zero,” commented Vishal Soomaney, co-founder and CTO of Messium.
This start-up has achieved remarkable success through its own innovative approach, with the ESA InCubed programme providing valuable technical support and co-funding that helped accelerate its growth. Having reached a minimum viable product with InCubed in February 2025, Messium has secured £3.2 million in private investment and is now starting an extension of its product with InCubed in 2026.
Its success does not stop there: Messium has been collaborating with Open Cosmos – another InCubed-supported company – as a user of the HAMMER hyperspectral datasets, highlighting the importance of the InCubed ecosystem to find new customers, strategic opportunities, and valuable peer-to-peer feedback.
“With ESA InCubed’s support, we’ve turned Messium from a proof-of-concept into a commercial solution that helps farmers boost profits, cut emissions, and protect soil health for future generations. This collaboration has fostered strong partnerships with organisations like Open Cosmos and shown the real-world impact of space-enabled innovation. We’re excited to continue working with the ESA team to scale these solutions across Europe”, added Vishal.
Michele Castorina, Head of the Φ-lab Invest Office and InCubed Programme Manager, commented: “The collaboration between these two InCubed-supported companies is a clear indication of the programme’s success. InCubed cultivates an ecosystem where these ideas can connect, grow, and create new commercial value. By enabling the development of Messium’s product, we have demonstrated how European space technology can be transformed into a viable business proposition. Their solution is a perfect example of the innovative synergy we foster, showing how InCubed’s support further attracts significant investment needed to scale.”
“At Open Cosmos, our mission is to tackle Earth’s most pressing challenges with actionable data and connectivity from space,” stated Alberto Perez Cassinelli, Vice President of Data at Open Cosmos. “By providing Messium with our advanced hyperspectral data from our OpenConstellation, we are empowering their nitrogen analysis technology to deliver real value to wheat farmers worldwide. This collaboration demonstrates how space-based innovation can translate into practical, real-time insights that improve agricultural efficiency, sustainability, and food security.”
The banner image shows a NDVI-based approach from multispectral satellite imagery previously used by farmers to assess the status of their crops (left) vs. crop nitrogen (kg/ha) provided by Messium, based on hyperspectral satellite imagery (right). In the right image, lower crop nitrogen levels are represented in red and higher crop nitrogen levels in blue. Messium’s weekly insights provide the nitrogen percentage in the crop, the biomass of the crop (t/ha), and the total nitrogen in the crop (t/ha), all at a 5 x 5 m resolution.
To know more: ESA Φ-lab, Messium
Photo courtesy of Messium