ISRO to develop full-fledged earth observation satellite:

ISRO to develop full-fledged earth observation satellite:

Context:

• A new set of future satellites called Hyperspectral Imaging Satellites is set to add a new dimension to the way India will be seen from about 600 km in space.

Explanation:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says it plans to launch a full-fledged niche earth observation (EO) satellite called the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite or HySIS using a critical chip it has developed.
• There is no specific time-frame yet for its launch but meanwhile, the new chip, technically called an “optical imaging detector array,” that they have created for it would be tested and perfected.

Features of the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite:

• The satellite can see in 55 spectral or colour bands from 630 km above ground.
• Hyperspectral or hyspex imaging is said to be an earth observation trend that is being experimented globally.
• Adding a new dimension to plain-vanilla optical imagers, it can be used for a range of activities from monitoring the environment, crops, looking for oil and minerals all the way up to military surveillance.
• ‘Hyspex’ imaging is said to enable distinct identification of objects, materials or processes on earth by reading the spectrum for each pixel of a scene from space.