Session
Science/Mission Payloads
Location
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Abstract
The Hyperspectral Thermal Imager 2.0 (HyTI-2) is a next-generation long-wave infrared (LWIR) hyperspectral imaging payload designed to operate as a continuously sensing, onboard intelligent node on a small satellite platform. Building on the heritage of the original HyTI mission, HyTI-2 delivers advances in spectral and spatial performance, onboard processing capability, and operational duty cycle, enabling sustained operational capability to support low-latency, data-rich Earth observation architectures for future satellite constellations. As the primary payload of the NASA ESTO InVEST-funded Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES) mission, HyTI-2 is scheduled to launch in 2027 to a 550 km sun-synchronous orbit. HyTI-2 is a push-broom Fabry–Pérot hyperspectral LWIR imager providing 25 discrete spectral bands across the 8–12 µm range at a bandpass of approximately 26 cm-1 , with a ground sampling distance of 45 m. The payload integrates a High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD) focal plane array (1280 × 1024, 12 µm pitch) into an Integrated Dewar Cooler Assembly (IDCA) utilizing an AIM SF100 Stirling cryocooler, achieving NEdT better than 0.1 K, and the Blue Marble Space Edge Processor (SEP) for near real-time, onboard generation of spectro-radiometrically calibrated Level-1 hyperspectral image cubes. By converting raw detector data into science-ready products directly in orbit, HyTI-2 substantially reduces downlink burden while accelerating access to actionable thermal Earth observations. A defining advancement of HyTI-2 is its Active Thermal Architecture (ATA), a mechanically pumped fluid loop system that supports more than 100 W of average payload power with ±5°C thermal stability. Without active thermal control, HyTI-2 would be limited to a duty cycle of less than 5%; the ATA elevates this to near-continuous operation over continental land targets, an improvement of approximately 20x over the original HyTI mission. Target science applications include land surface temperature mapping, surface hydrology, mineralogy, volcanic ash and dust monitoring, and rapid thermal anomaly detection. Beyond individual observations, HyTI-2 serves as a prototype for future distributed architectures in which multiple thermal payloads collaborate, process data onboard, and deliver fused products through space-based and ground-based cloud infrastructures. Ground characterization conducted in Fall 2025 confirmed that the HyTI-2 instrument meets all key performance requirements: NEdT better than 0.1 K, verified against blackbody references; all 25 spectral bands confirmed at design wavenumbers; spatial resolution consistent with the F/3 diffraction limit; and SEP pipeline execution demonstrated with stable sub-5-minute L0-to-L1 processing times. HyTI-2 demonstrates how high-power payloads, onboard intelligence, and system-level co-design elevate small satellites from single instruments into integrated participants in scalable hyperspectral thermal constellations above the clouds.
Document Type
Event
HyTI-2: Advancing Hyperspectral Thermal Imaging Into the Era of Space-Based Edge Processing
Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, UT
The Hyperspectral Thermal Imager 2.0 (HyTI-2) is a next-generation long-wave infrared (LWIR) hyperspectral imaging payload designed to operate as a continuously sensing, onboard intelligent node on a small satellite platform. Building on the heritage of the original HyTI mission, HyTI-2 delivers advances in spectral and spatial performance, onboard processing capability, and operational duty cycle, enabling sustained operational capability to support low-latency, data-rich Earth observation architectures for future satellite constellations. As the primary payload of the NASA ESTO InVEST-funded Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES) mission, HyTI-2 is scheduled to launch in 2027 to a 550 km sun-synchronous orbit. HyTI-2 is a push-broom Fabry–Pérot hyperspectral LWIR imager providing 25 discrete spectral bands across the 8–12 µm range at a bandpass of approximately 26 cm-1 , with a ground sampling distance of 45 m. The payload integrates a High Operating Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector (HOT-BIRD) focal plane array (1280 × 1024, 12 µm pitch) into an Integrated Dewar Cooler Assembly (IDCA) utilizing an AIM SF100 Stirling cryocooler, achieving NEdT better than 0.1 K, and the Blue Marble Space Edge Processor (SEP) for near real-time, onboard generation of spectro-radiometrically calibrated Level-1 hyperspectral image cubes. By converting raw detector data into science-ready products directly in orbit, HyTI-2 substantially reduces downlink burden while accelerating access to actionable thermal Earth observations. A defining advancement of HyTI-2 is its Active Thermal Architecture (ATA), a mechanically pumped fluid loop system that supports more than 100 W of average payload power with ±5°C thermal stability. Without active thermal control, HyTI-2 would be limited to a duty cycle of less than 5%; the ATA elevates this to near-continuous operation over continental land targets, an improvement of approximately 20x over the original HyTI mission. Target science applications include land surface temperature mapping, surface hydrology, mineralogy, volcanic ash and dust monitoring, and rapid thermal anomaly detection. Beyond individual observations, HyTI-2 serves as a prototype for future distributed architectures in which multiple thermal payloads collaborate, process data onboard, and deliver fused products through space-based and ground-based cloud infrastructures. Ground characterization conducted in Fall 2025 confirmed that the HyTI-2 instrument meets all key performance requirements: NEdT better than 0.1 K, verified against blackbody references; all 25 spectral bands confirmed at design wavenumbers; spatial resolution consistent with the F/3 diffraction limit; and SEP pipeline execution demonstrated with stable sub-5-minute L0-to-L1 processing times. HyTI-2 demonstrates how high-power payloads, onboard intelligence, and system-level co-design elevate small satellites from single instruments into integrated participants in scalable hyperspectral thermal constellations above the clouds.
