ABB Inc.|ABB Inc.

Purpose

Earth observation using constellations of satellites is an emerging market that calls for improved building blocks to capture precise images of Earth's surface at lowest possible cost. This project targets improvements on three key attributes of a spaceborne precision camera system. A new compact wide-field telescope will demonstrate reduced straylight contamination on the detector. Compact radiometric, spectral and flat fielding calibration unit will be demonstrated for operation in flight. Finally an active secondary mirror will demonstrate an ability to compensate for spacecraft pointing jitters or short duration tracking of ground targets. The results of this project will position Canada to offer low cost, mass production of compact, telescope fore-optics for Earth observation satellite constellations. They will contribute to the global effort by private sector aiming at offering new earth vision-derived digital services (natural disasters, improved farming and pollution control to name a few).