This evening, the Czech Republic will join a small number of countries with its own satellite equipped with a hyperspectral camera. The TROLL satellite, from the Brno-based space company TRL Space, will be launched into space by a Falcon rocket from SpaceX today, 14 January, at 7:49 pm. The high-quality images taken by the hyperspectral camera will significantly improve the possibilities of monitoring and analyzing various phenomena, including illegal landfills, pollution of waterways, damage to vegetation, and ruptures of glacial lakes, both in the Czech Republic and beyond.
You can watch the launch with commentary from 7:35 pm on the Kosmonautix.cz YouTube channel.
“The use of hyperspectral images has enormous potential for the future and I am glad that it is our TROLL that will be able to open these new horizons in the imaging of our Earth,” said TRL Space CEO Petr Kapoun. “Together with our partners, we are currently addressing the possibilities of use in various fields where hyperspectral images from the satellite can bring enormous added value.”
The first Czech customer to use data from the TROLL satellite is the Czech Environmental Inspectorate. Thanks to hyperspectral images, the Inspectorate will obtain detailed and accurate information for its surveillance activities, to better detect illegal landfills, constructions, deforestation, and pollution of watercourses, and will also gain a tool for precise monitoring of the state of vegetation.
This is possible thanks to the hyperspectral camera’s highly advanced technology; unlike a conventional camera, it can capture light in dozens of spectral bands at once, where each point of the image contains detailed information about the reflected light in different wavelengths, which allows it to “see” the properties of materials that are invisible to the naked eye or classic cameras, such as the chemical composition or humidity of objects. The Czech Republic is cooperating with TRL Space, the Faculty of Science of Charles University, the TilSpec team and the Gisat company, in a project financed with state support from the Czech Technology Agency and the Ministry of the Environment’s ‘Environment for Life’ program.
Revealing the hidden dangers of glacial lakes
“In addition to the cooperation with the Czech Environmental Inspectorate, this year we are preparing a unique research project together with Charles University, the University of Heidelberg and the University of Milan, through which hyperspectral images from the TROLL satellite should help identify supraglacial lakes in Greenland or Antarctica, as well as monitoring indicators that may cause them to rupture,” said Kapoun. “More than 15 million people living in glacial areas are currently threatened by water from them. The expedition, in which, in addition to satellite imaging, the partners will also conduct research directly on site, is planned for June this year.”
The company will work on the project with the GLAM (Glacier Landscape Analysis and Geohazards Monitoring with Earth Observation) team, consisting of researchers working, among others, at the Faculty of Science of Charles University. “Currently, researchers only have data from so-called multispectral cameras and SAR radar satellites, based on which they can reveal the location of the lake, but not its depth or the risk of rupture. Data from the hyperspectral camera of the TROLL satellite will now help them with this,” added Kapoun.
Cutting-edge technology
By launching its own commercial satellite, TRL Space is establishing itself as a ‘system integrator’ — a company capable of building a complete satellite. As well as a hyperspectral camera, the TROLL satellite is also equipped with advanced artificial intelligence software developed by its sister startup Zaitra. This software will allow data processing directly on board the satellite, which will speed up analysis and increase the efficiency of the mission. Security of communication between the satellite and the Earth will be ensured by a new encryption system from Corac, also part of the TRL Space group. The encryption system will provide reliable protection of transmitted data.
