Detectors & Imaging

International Space Station gathers first image from FluxData multispectral camera

July 1, 2011

Rochester, NY--A multispectral image of the western coastal region of Florida was taken by a FluxData imager inside the International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC).

Gail Overton

Rochester, NY--A high-resolution multispectral image of the western coastal region of Florida was taken on June 10, 2011 from 250 miles above the earth by the International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC), which incorporates a multispectral imager from FluxData. The FluxData FD-1665 3CCD Multispectral technology has a green, red, and near-infrared spectral response band to emulate those of the Landsat 7 satellite and provide many of the same benefits for vegetation and moisture discrimination, monitoring, and identification.

Through University of North Dakota's (UND) Imagery Request & Information System (IRIS), ISSAC will provide end-users the ability to use Google Earth browser plug-in to select specific geographical areas of interest and request the collection of imagery that will be downlinked, processed, and delivered within just 1 to 2 days. The data and information ISSAC provides will be used for a wide range of activities including: nitrogen application maps to improve fertilizer use, agriculture management zone decision support systems to improve nutrient and invasive species management, and rangeland management tools to improve livestock allocation and evaluation.

Doug Olsen, Project Manager for ISSAC at UND, says, "This is a successful culmination of a decade-long program. FluxData provided an upgraded sensor to UND's specification that can image the Earth with significantly higher resolution than its predecessor. In fact, the system is capable of producing images on par with NASA's LandSat satellites and is useful for not only farmers and agriculture producers, but can be applied to rapid-response imaging of natural disasters."

Lawrence Taplin, CTO of FluxData, said, "We are pleased that the hard work we put into making improvements to the systemâs optical and mechanical design to withstand the environmental rigors of a payload launch and meet requirements for in-station safety, electromagnetic interference, shock and vibration have paid off and the system has commenced operation."

The International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC) is a multi-spectral imaging system mounted onboard the International Space Station in the US's Destiny module inside the Window Observation Research Facility. The system is capable of high-temporal imaging (multi-week to multi-day) from the ISS that has the potential to dramatically increase temporal opportunities to obtain cloud-free images at spatial resolutions and wavelengths applicable to end-user analysis of in-field variability and vegetative conditions.

FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, surveillance, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company.

SOURCE: FluxData; www.fluxdata.com/2011/06/21/first-images-from-fluxdata%e2%80%99s-multispectral-camera-captured-from-international-space-station/

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.