Spaceborne Hyperspectral Applicative Land and Ocean Mission (SHALOM) is a joint mission by the

Israeli Space Agency The Israel Space Agency (ISA; , ''Sokhnut heKhalal haYisraelit'') is a governmental body, a part of Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology (Israel), Ministry of Science and Technology, that coordinates all Israeli space research programs w ...

and the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...

to develop a

hyperspectral Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in the image of a scene, with the purpose of finding objects, identifyi ...

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

. The mission was agreed upon in late 2010, and was originally intended to build two commercial hyperspectral satellites. Preliminary studies for the program started in 2012, with Phase A completed in 2013. A Joint Integrated Team from Italy and Israel perform preliminary definition and studies until 2014. By 2014, the project has evolved into building only one satellite. Phase B1 started in 2017 and was expected to last 12 months. In October 2015 a memorandum of understanding was signed, and the system was slated to become fully operational in 2021, later pushed to 2022. As of December 2021, SHALOM is expected to be operational by 2025. The project is expected to cost over $200 million, with the cost being split evenly between the two countries.

Mission

The joint mission is expected to build a

Earth observation Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biosphere, biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote sensing, remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or throu ...

satellite that will occupy the same orbit as the older Italian satellite,

COSMO-SkyMed COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) is an Earth-observation satellite space-based radar system funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Ministry of Defence and conducted by the Ital ...

which was launched in 2007. The satellites will be equipped with instruments targeting the visible,

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

, and

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

wavelengths in the 400 nm to 2700 nm range. The satellite will use the

OPTSAT-3000 OPTSAT-3000 (OPTical SATellite-3000) is an Italian Earth observation and reconnaissance satellite developed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries and operated by the Italian Ministry of Defence. Launched on August 2, 2017, it has an expected se ...

satellite platform built by

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

, and is expected to be about 385 kg. The payload will be limited to 120 kg and is expected be equipped with: * Panchromatic camera with a 2.5-m

GSD GSD may refer to: Places * Garsdale railway station, England (GB CRS code) * Georgia School for the Deaf, Cave Spring, Georgia, United States * Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US Science and technology ...

, * Commercial Hyper-spectral Imaging Spectrometer (0.2-2.5

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

) * Infrared camera (4-12 μm) * Spectral ranges (contiguous spectrum): **

Visible and near-infrared The visible and near-infrared (VNIR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum has wavelengths between approximately 400 and 1100 nanometers (nm). It combines the full visible spectrum with an adjacent portion of the infrared spectrum up to th ...

imaging spectrometers of 8 m in the 400-1010 nm range **

Short-wavelength infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of ...

range imaging spectrometers of 10 m GSD in the 920–2700 nm range The satellite is expected to launch in 2025 on a

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

launch vehicle.

References

Earth observation satellites of Israel Satellites of Italy 2025 in spaceflight {{spacecraft-stub

Mission

See also

References