The HyperScout® product, by Dutch company cosine, is a line of miniaturized hyperspectral imaging instruments models produced in series and equipped with onboard analytics capability. They are designed to fit satellites the size of a shoebox, capturing images of Earth in a multitude of colors beyond the human eye’s perception. HyperScout enables real-time monitoring of various natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, desertification, ice detection, crop health, and more. Its capabilities have the potential to significantly enhance society’s decision-making processes regarding climate policy. In 2024, a HyperScout product will be deployed in space as part of two high-profile operational missions, focused on addressing climate change, environmental monitoring and leveraging the power of artificial intelligence: Thales-Microsoft’s IMAGIN-e and South Australia’s Kanyini.
Climate change is increasingly significant across various agendas, gaining not only traction among technical and scientific communities but also political relevance. This shared urgency underscores the need for collective action toward sustainability, directly impacting our workforce and motivation.
It is integral to cosine’s core mission and values to furnish the world with instruments capable of providing space-collected data to facilitate informed decision-making in areas such as climate policy, water usage, and disaster management. HyperScout is specifically designed to address environmental challenges such as climate change and its impacts, offering hyperspectral imaging in the visible and near infrared spectra to analyze Earth’s composition. Additionally, its three thermal infrared bands enable temperature distribution retrieval, expanding the scope of Earth Observation applications. With its onboard AI and analytics, HyperScout delivers processed information and coordinates in quasi-real time, facilitating rapid response to dynamic environmental changes.
Applications include:
- vegetation monitoring
- fire hazard monitoring
- volcano and fire monitoring
- soil moisture monitoring
- flooding delineation
- oil spill detection
- change detection
- water quality monitoring
- cloud detection
- urban heat island
HyperScout for IMAGIN-e
In March 2024, Microsoft, in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space, launched a satellite to the International Space Station to gather unmatched Earth observation insights. The IMAGIN-e (ISS Mounted Accessible Global Imaging Nod-e) payload aims to demonstrate and validate on-orbit computing technologies for multiple remote-sensing applications to address crucial challenges facing our planet’s sustainability. As a partner in this mission, cosine delivered a HyperScout M, the most compact version of hyperspectral imager among the product line. The image processing capabilities embedded in our hyperspectral imager, combined with its onboard computing hardware and an on orbit application framework, will enable unprecedented data processing for climate change applications. The app-like upload environment, which allows the deployment of new algorithms and runs them in orbit, will help address the challenging mission constraints.
HyperScout for Kanyini
Later in 2024, a HyperScout 2 will be launched as part of Australia’s top-level satellite mission Kanyini to observe the Earth. Data collected from the project is intended to support informed decision making in the areas of water usage, climate policy and disaster management. The spectral range offered by HyperScout enables an extremely detailed analysis of land cover, supporting research into crop health, forests, inland water, and coasts. Additionally, the thermal infrared imager will provide vital information on heat generators in South Australia.
HyperScout in Production
These are just two examples of the current use of HyperScouts in the fight against climate change. cosine organizes the production chain of its hyperspectral imagers directly at its headquarters in Sassenheim, The Netherlands. The models are produced regularly, with the possibility of adding specific software features discussed with clients.
Explore more about HyperScout on cosine’ s website, and to purchase units from our available stock, please contact us via email at sales@cosine.nl.
About cosine
cosine is a leading worldwide company in the development of space instrumentation, such as Silicon Pore Optics for astronomy and remote sensing solutions with onboard analytics. We combine physics and technology to bring out-of-the-box solutions to our clients. We have been developing and delivering innovative measurement systems for space and industrial applications since 1998. Our company operates 1,300 m2 of cleanrooms and high-tech assembly facilities to build and test the systems we produce for customers at our headquarters in Sassenheim, The Netherlands.