9 months after the launch of its first satellite tv for pc, Bellevue, Wash.-based Xplore is sharing a hyperspectral view of North Korean territory as seen from orbit.
The picture, captured in seen and near-infrared wavelengths by Xplore’s XCUBE-1 satellite tv for pc, was unveiled in the present day on the Seattle House Superiority Summit on the Museum of Flight. Xplore’s co-founder and chief working officer, Lisa Wealthy, stated the image reveals “semi-submerged farms which are seemingly rice paddies,” plus fish farms and salt flats.
“It is a massive reveal for us in the present day,” Wealthy stated.
XCUBE-1 was despatched into low Earth orbit final December as a part of SpaceX’s Bandwagon-2 satellite tv for pc rideshare mission. Xplore started sharing imagery from the satellite tv for pc in June.
XCUBE-1’s pictures have a decision of 5 meters (16 toes) per pixel, and are sometimes proven in false colours to intensify variations in terrain. For instance, shades of purple are used to point vegetation. “We’re seeing greater than we anticipated to see,” Wealthy stated.
Over the course of repeated flyovers, such pictures can observe the development of latest amenities or different modifications in floor options. That may present beneficial insights for intelligence companies.
Xplore is certainly one of six corporations offering hyperspectral satellite tv for pc knowledge to the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace underneath the phrases of five-year contracts awarded in 2023.
The contracts are a part of NRO’s multi-stage effort to be taught extra concerning the utility of hyperspectral imagery. The primary stage focuses on analytical research to offer estimates of system capabilities at each the person sensor and constellation ranges, in addition to enterprise and cybersecurity planning. The second stage focuses on assessing on-orbit capabilities and procuring knowledge merchandise.
Offering knowledge for nationwide safety functions is simply one of many functions that Xplore is concentrating on for its “House as a Service” enterprise mannequin. The corporate, which was based in 2017, can be growing satellites and orbital platforms for business distant sensing.
