The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The HyperScout imager on ESA’s GomX-4B CubeSat combines multiple image frames like these (shown here with false colour) to produce hyperspectral views of its target, combining more colours than the human eye can perceive to yield much richer environmental information than standard optical satellite acquisitions. Each line making up a HyperScout image is acquired in a different spectral band. The imager takes advantage of the onward orbital motion of its host CubeSat so that these lines overlap, to build up a complete hyperspectral ‘image cube’. In April 2020 HyperScout acquired a spectral data set over the Netherlands. The sky is calm, reflecting what is happening on the ground with the COVID-19 lockdown, with no contrails in sight. The light reflected from the Dutch land has been collected without any obstructions, resulting in clear and complete images.