Ground systems software for automatic operation of the HYPSO-2 hyperspectral imaging satellite

Abstract

HYPSO-1 was launched in January 2022, equipped with a novel hyperspectral imaging payload with the main objective of performing marine research. In 2024, HYPSO-2, with an enhanced capture capacity, will be launched. The satellites can point their cameras off-nadir, a capability that is used to achieve a high temporal resolution over target areas. HYPSO-2 will have over ten times increased downlink capacity compared to HYPSO-1. Therefore, the ground system needs to be adjusted in order to accommodate more data. The main obstacles to overcome are tied to target areas being in geographically close vicinity of each other, estimating when captures are downlinked, and data handling onboard the satellites. In this article, we describe the systems that have been developed to handle the payload operations of the HYPSO-1 satellite and show the technical advances made in the development of the HYPSO-2 satellite. The elements needed for the automatic operation of the HYPSO-2 satellite are introduced and a system to integrate most of these elements is proposed. The system that is designed is deemed to be implementable and can become a fully automated planning and uplink pipeline, but operators would still be required to monitor the satellites' health and perform troubleshooting.