Hyperspectral imager goes up in space

In June this year,Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) (Guildford, UK) signed a £110 million deal with satellite imaging provider DMC International Imaging (DMCii; Guildford, UK) to provide three SSTL-300S1 satellites that will be used for geospatial imaging applications.

Now, the company has announced that it is to partner withTeledyne DALSA who will develop a new multispectral sensor for the satellites to allow SSTL's subsidiary company and client DMCii to acquire high resolution data for applications such as urban planning and environment and disaster monitoring.

Until now, the physical demands of high-resolution imaging from space have required a large satellite but adapting the existing SSTL-300 satellite design used on NigeriaSat-2, SSTL has created a sub-meter resolution small satellite for a fraction of the cost of a conventionalEarth observation mission.

By combining the coverage from three such satellites, the so-called DMC3 constellation will be able to revisit a given area daily, performing several different types of imaging such as mapping terrain, strip imaging, and mosaic imaging for wide areas.

-- By Dave Wilson, Senior Editor,Vision Systems Design