ORACLE-1: The Hyperspectral Imaging Of Stagnant Water Bodies And Vegetation Indices Near Lake Victoria for Mosquito-borne Disease Control

£5.00

R. Ursu et al. (2021), JBIS, 74, pp.91-96

Refcode: 2021.74.91

Abstract:

Of all disease-carrying vectors, mosquitoes are the most prevalent, spreading malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever across the entire world with nearly 500 million cases, resulting in over one million deaths each year. Environmental factors such as the presence of vegetation, water bodies, and industrial or urban areas have been strongly correlated to the incidence of outbreaks due to their influence on the interaction between vectors and hosts as well as the intensity of transmission given by their vectorial capacity. In the region of Lake Victoria, stagnant water bodies have been shown to foster vector breeding habitats of the genus Anopheles, including water hyacinths, with the possible effect of increasing the risk of vector abundance and mosquito-borne disease transmission. Considering the effects of global warming on the spread of mosquito habitats, the rise in drug-resistant parasites, and the anthropogenic environmental changes in surrounding land use, the Lake Victoria region could experience a resurgence of mosquito-borne diseases during the 21st century. The Oracle-1 3U CubeSat aims to contribute to the global effort of monitoring environmental factors influencing the geographical distribution of vectors associated with increases in mosquito-borne disease transmission by monitoring the formation of stagnant water bodies through remote sensing. The payload consists of a nano-hyperspectral instrument covering the visible-near infrared spectrum (400-1000 nm) which can acquire high-quality earth imagery on a frequent basis, at 60 m spatial resolution in 270 spectral bands at a 6 nm spectral resolution. In addition, the planned sun-synchronous orbit for Oracle-1 with a frequent revisit time would allow this mission to collect highly detailed and unique data on the development of stagnant water bodies in the east African region, which could potentially make the mission of uttermost importance for national disease control programs in Africa, with a focus on the management of larval and mosquito control measurements.