Samara University and Sputnix have manufactured a nanosatellite with high-resolution optics © aex.ru
Korolev Samara University and the private space company SPUTNIX (part of the Sitronics Group) have created a nanosatellite with record-breaking hyperspectral “vision”, which allows you to see from space on the Earth’s surface what cannot be detected using conventional optics. This is reported by the press service of Samara University.
Hyperspectral “vision” allows you to see the world in a multichannel spectral display and helps to more effectively conduct environmental monitoring, monitor the condition of forests and agricultural crops, track the occurrence of forest fires and perform other tasks, revealing the characteristics and properties of observed objects invisible to humans. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched into space at the end of 2024.
The record-breaking nanosatellite is a six-unit spacecraft based on a nanosatellite platform developed by engineers of the SPUTNIX space company. The device has already been assembled, payload integration has been completed on it, the satellite has passed functional tests and is awaiting pre-flight training. The satellite is equipped with a satellite created at the Samara University named after Korolev is a compact hyperspectrometer, which has an extremely high resolution for such a class of devices — 7 meters per pixel — this exceeds the performance of many much larger hyperspectral Earth monitoring spacecraft, both Russian and foreign. Nanosatellites with such acute hyperspectral “vision” earlier in the Russia was not created.
“Scientists at our university have developed and assembled a compact hyperspectrometer with a high spatial resolution of only 7 meters per pixel. This can rightfully be called a record indicator for such a compact device and it is about ten times higher than the similar indicator of the first domestic hyperspectrometer for nanosatellites, which was previously also developed at our university and successfully tested in space. Even for many large satellites weighing hundreds or thousands of kilograms, the spatial resolution of hyperspectral equipment and, accordingly, the volume and quality of transmitted hyperspectral data sometimes turn out to be several times worse than that of this “baby”. If we talk about nanosatellites equipped with a hyperspectrometer, then devices with similar or better hyperspectral “vision” in Russia has not existed yet,” said Roman Skidanov, Professor of the Department of Technical Cybernetics at Samara Korolev University, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
The hyperspectrometer is equipped with a powerful long-focus lens of domestic production and is designed to work in the visible and near infrared range (the so-called VNIR range, from 400 to 1000 nm). The number of spectral channels ranges from 150 to 300. The length of the hyperspectrometer together with the lens is only about 30 cm. The device has already successfully passed bench tests in the SPUTNIX laboratory and is ready to work in orbit.
The project is being implemented with the support of the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovations within the framework of the Space-Pi scientific and educational project of the Planet Duty program. It is planned that, based on the data transmitted from orbit by a nanosatellite with a hyperspectrometer, scientists from Korolev Samara University will teach teams of Russian schoolchildren the basics of hyperspectral image analysis and processing.
“We are interested in this project not only from the point of view of supporting the development of aerospace education, but also in terms of the very prospect of creating a spacecraft with a new hyperspectral imaging system. It is new in a global sense, since so far no such hypersensitive system has been tested in orbit in integration with the cubesat. This may open up new opportunities for the development of the private space sector, which we ourselves are primarily interested in as leaders of this market,” said Vladislav Ivanenko, CEO of SPUTNIX.
As Vladislav Ivanenko noted, the private space company SPUTNIX created more than 100 spacecraft in 2023, some of which were put into orbit this year and joined the private Russian constellation of satellites for remote sensing of the Earth and automatic identification of Sitronics Group vessels.
A source
