HyperCube the intelligent hyperspectral imager

Hyperube is the first ever miniaturized hyperspectral imager with its own brain. The instrument is being developed by a European industrial consortium under ESA GSTP contract. The onboard data handling system is made for realtime data processing, enabling Level-2 generation onboard and therefore drastically reducing the amount of data to be downloaded and processed. It is designed to be operated upon nano- (such as CubeSats) or micro-satellites, or also on board larger platforms. The instrument will have unprecedented low mass and low power consumption. This hyperspectral imager will achieve a performance level high enough to reliably accomplish the tasks of early warnings via change detection monitoring, providing situational awareness to the end user The target platform of the current study is a 3U CubeSat, where 1U is dedicated to the HyperCube accommodation. The possibility of fitting within the cubic centimeter order of magnitude is provided by the state-of-art and extremely lightweighted reflective optics and telescope design operating in the VNIR range, made possible thanks to new technologies and materials, such as single point diamond turning and RSA aluminum. The signal-to-noise ratio, the spectral resolution, the ground sampling distance and the spectral bandwidth are sufficient for early warning of many natural events, e.g. flooding, forest fires, landslides, stress on vegetation. Furthermore, any other variation of the soil spectral signature, as for example illegal dumps, can also be detected. If used onboard larger satellites, the very wide swath, the L2 realtime data processing and the minimal impact at system level make the HyperCube attractive as an ancillary instrument providing real time phenomena information either to the larger primary payload or to a ground control room. This enables smart operational planning for large payloads.