Thermal infrared satellite company Hydrosat has announced Nyktòs, a high-resolution mid-wave infrared (MWIR) program that will give NATO and allied governments taskable, day-and-night thermal imagery for tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
The company announced the program in Luxembourg on November 2, saying the capability will be developed from new European facilities, with an expanded network of European supply chain partners.
Nyktòs is designed to complement Osiris, Hydrosat’s planned constellation of longwave infrared (LWIR) satellites. Osiris will monitor broad areas across a 340-kilometer swath and flag temperature changes, while Nyktòs examines smaller thermal features in greater detail.
Hydrosat said this tipping-and-cueing approach, combined with historical, optical and radar data, can help governments locate significant activity, investigate it and monitor changes over time.
According to the company, the same approach could help emergency services prioritize areas for assessment and help infrastructure operators identify facilities that need attention.
“Broad-area thermal monitoring provides the context to identify changes, while high-resolution MWIR allows us to investigate those changes more closely,” said Scott Soenen, CTO at Hydrosat.
For sovereign missions, Hydrosat said it can set the balance between national and commercial capabilities according to each customer’s requirements. A dedicated mission could carry its own arrangements for tasking, control, security and data access. Hydrosat’s commercial constellation would add observation opportunities and wider coverage as events develop.
As part of the program, Hydrosat will open additional offices in Europe and grow its European supplier network. The company said this expansion will support technology development, spacecraft integration, mission operations, data processing and thermal analytics.
“Europe’s investment in space is an investment in its ability to protect its interests and make independent decisions. We are committed to helping turn that ambition into capability,” added Pieter Fossel, co-founder and CEO of Hydrosat.
Hydrosat serves customers in defense and intelligence, agriculture, and natural resource resilience.
Featured image: via Hydrosat
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
