Loft Integration & Test Facility in Golden, Colorado. (Photo: Business Wire)

Loft Orbital will fly four hyperspectral sensors on upcoming Loft satellites for Australian startup Esper. As Esper’s space infrastructure partner, Loft will integrate and operate the first first Four Leaf Clover (FLC) hyperspectral sensors on its satellites, beginning in 2026. 

Four Leaf Clover is Esper’s hyperspectral constellation, which will image hundreds of bands in the visible and shortwave infrared spectrum. Esper aims for the constellation to help identify critical minerals, detect methane leaks, and provide precision monitoring for industries such as mining, agriculture, and oil and gas. 

Esper is designing the sensors for the constellation. 

Loft Orbital provides space infrastructure services on its Yet Another Mission (YAM) satellites and it offers hosted physical and virtual payloads and dedicated satellites and constellations. 

“Esper’s FLC constellation is an ideal fit for Loft’s infrastructure”, said Mitchell Scher, Loft’s Senior Director of Business Development. “We want to let Esper focus on developing a high quality instrument and building new applications using their data, rather than becoming a space company to become a data and analytics company.”