Feb 28 2011
Manufacturer of polarimetric and multispectral imaging systems, FluxData announced that its multispectral imager has been launched into the space on board the Japanese HTV-2 mission on 22 January 2011.
After arrival, the International Space Station (ISS) crew will deploy the imager, an important component of the International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC), in the Window Observation Research Facility (WORF).
The ISSAC’s multispectral imaging sensor assembly is built on the company’s FD-1665 3CCD Multispectral camera technology. The near-infrared, red and green spectral response bands in the system were chosen to imitate as the Landsat 7 satellite and offer similar benefits for identification, monitoring and vegetation and moisture discrimination.
University of North Dakota’s faculty and students designed the ISSAC to support their Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC) study. The camera will take photos of vegetative regions on the Earth and will mainly focus on the Rocky Mountain areas and northern Great Plains in the US. The information collected will be utilized for agriculture management systems to improve nutrients, rangeland management tools to boost livestock evaluation and distribution, and invasive species management. The images could also assist in wildland fire mapping, flood monitoring and disaster management.
FluxData’s Chief Technical Officer, Lawrence Taplin stated that significant enhancements were made on the mechanical and optical design of the system to endure the environmental settings in the space station. The ISSAC system was developed to meet the rigorous NASA specifications for vibration, shock, safety and electromagnetic interference. Similar enhancements are being extended to the company’s other products for other applications, Taplin said.