SAC Chameleon. Image credit: SAC

Space Advisory Company (SAC) is to develop the highest resolution hyperspectral camera yet to fit into a Cubesat. The company will produce the Chameleon Imager for the standard CubeSat 2U volume which will realize a ground resolution of 32.8 feet (10 meters) over a swath of 19.8 miles (32 kilometers) wide from a distance of 310 miles (500 km). The camera will weigh 2.9 pounds (1.35 kg) and will recognize an object as small as a bus.

SAC recently celebrated the anniversary of the first image taken over Canada by their Gecko Imager from outer space at an altitude of 248 miles (400 km). The company also supplied a critical digital controller unit for a Dutch astronomy experiment currently orbiting the far side of the moon.

The camera is configured to store up to 160 GB of data onboard in either the Red, Green, Blue (RGB), multispectral or hyperspectral format with a multitude of potential applications such as enabling food security programs through crop monitoring and bio-mass classification, mining and prospecting, fire detection and infrastructure monitoring.

“Our Chameleon Imager is a highly capable and configurable system — hence the name — which draws heritage from both the space proven operational Gecko Imager plus the hardware developed by us for the Netherlands-China Low Frequency Explorer (NCLE) currently on board the Change’4 satellite,” said Duncan Stanton, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Space Advisory Company (SAC).