Hyperspectral Imaging
SpaceFab's Viewpoint imaging satellite will carry a 150 band hyper-spectral imager on-board for gathering an incredible wealth of data from Earth imagery. The benefits to this technology can't be overstated, from helping farms yield more crops for less money, to monitoring the environment.
What is Hyper-spectral imaging?
The average camera only perceives three color bands, red, blue and green. This is why our TV's and monitors only display these three colors on their pixels. A hyper-spectral imager can see 150 different color bands, a large improvement. With just a camera's three band eyes, you can tell if a leave is a healthy green, brown and dying, has a fungus or many other issues. 150 bands allow you to see a lot more.
Different substances reflect and absorb light at different colors. By looking at the reflected light, even from orbit, we can tell what kind of substance it is. We can also deduce the health of plants, see pests, what type of minerals are in the soil, moisture content and more. Diseases from plants, or even pests give off specific signatures that can be detected and differentiated from all the other material around. This allows these problems to be treated precisely.
Hyper-spectral imaging can also be used for geology or the mining industry. It can see what types of minerals are on the surface, giving clues as to what is underneath. This technology is not only important to farming, geology, environmental studies and much more, but it will be a key application for our future asteroid mining missions.
What is Hyper-spectral imaging?
The average camera only perceives three color bands, red, blue and green. This is why our TV's and monitors only display these three colors on their pixels. A hyper-spectral imager can see 150 different color bands, a large improvement. With just a camera's three band eyes, you can tell if a leave is a healthy green, brown and dying, has a fungus or many other issues. 150 bands allow you to see a lot more.
Different substances reflect and absorb light at different colors. By looking at the reflected light, even from orbit, we can tell what kind of substance it is. We can also deduce the health of plants, see pests, what type of minerals are in the soil, moisture content and more. Diseases from plants, or even pests give off specific signatures that can be detected and differentiated from all the other material around. This allows these problems to be treated precisely.
Hyper-spectral imaging can also be used for geology or the mining industry. It can see what types of minerals are on the surface, giving clues as to what is underneath. This technology is not only important to farming, geology, environmental studies and much more, but it will be a key application for our future asteroid mining missions.