Three wavelengths are used to capture images by common cameras, red, green and blue, matching the elements on the sensor. As the light passes through say a green filter, the photosensor only records green light. Superspectral imagery can capture ten or twenty distinct bands. Pixxel’s hyperspectral cameras capture images in 300 bands, including infrared wavelengths. The Firefly constellation of 30 satellites that Pixxel intends to deploy in 2024 will provide daily global coverage at a five-metre spatial resolution.

Pixxel has launched a series of successful demonstration satellites ahead of the deployment of the constellation next year. On March, Pixxel was one of six companies to bag a five year contract for supplying technical hyperspectral imagery to the US National Reconnaissance Organization (NRO). Once deployed, Firefly will be able to gather the highest resolution hyperspectral imagery of the planet, but Pixxel is not just selling the images. It is offering a data platform that can analyze the images and provide meaningful insights.

Pixxel has released a whitepaper on how Pixxel’s technology can be used to track water pollution. The hyperspectral imaging satellites can accurately detect specific wavelengths that provide valuable insights. The satellites can be used to track phytoplankton blooms, oil spills, contaminants, and nutrients in the water. With global coverage, the pressure on ground resources are reduced. The satellites provide information from remote and protected areas that require the use of expensive hardware to monitor, such as buoys loaded with sensors or aquatic drones.

The insights derived by Pixxel’s Firefly constellation are expected to be applied to address the most pressing problems facing humans today. It is not just water pollution hyperspectral imagery can also be used to track land use, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity indicators. The Firefly constellation has the ultimate goal of becoming a health monitor for the whole planet.