A Small Satellite Hyper-Spectral Mission

M. Cutter (2006), JBIS, 59, 153-157

Refcode: 2006.59.153
Keywords: Earth observation, CHRIS, PROBA, hyper-spectral imaging, small satellites

Abstract:
This paper describes a hyper-spectral mission based around the CHRIS instrument that has been developed at Sira Technology Ltd. The CHRIS instrument is flying on the ESA PROBA platform, a small agile satellite of the 100 kg class, which was launch in October 2001. The over mission costs are significantly less than many other Earth observation missions. The instrument is currently acquires approximately 400 hyper-spectral images each month via two European ground stations. Today this instrument provides the highest sampling capability of any space-borne hyper-spectral instrument. The main purpose of the instrument is to provide images of land areas, although the applications have extended to include coastal monitoring. The platform provides pointing in both across-track and along-track directions, for target acquisition and slow pitch during imaging (motion compensation) to enhance the radiometric performance and increase the number of bands that can be acquired. An observational mission has been developed around the facility and this is catering for over 70 or so Principal Investigators (PI) around the world, including Europe, North America, Australia and China with over 100 observational sites.