As part of ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) Programme, the FSSCat collection is now open to users, providing hyperspectral data coverage over some locations worldwide, as measured by the HyperScout-2 sensor.

FSSCat is a ground-breaking mission concept consisting of two federated 6U CubeSats that support the Copernicus Land and Marine Environment services. The mission has been developed by a European consortium led by Elecnor DEIMOS in conjunction with Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and three other companies: Golbriak Space OÜ (Estonia), Tyvak International (Italy), and Cosine (Netherlands).

FSSCat can measure soil moisture, ice extent, and ice thickness and detect melting ponds on ice. As a precursor to a constellation of small federated satellites for Earth Observation, FSSCat is equipped with a multi-spectral optical payload and a dual microwave payload, including a GNSS-Reflectometer and an L-band radiometer with interference detection/mitigation capabilities. Additionally, the satellites feature radio/optical and Iridium inter-satellite links to evaluate key technologies and techniques for future satellite federations.

For more information on the specifications of the available products and how to access them, please visit the data collection page.

Availability and restrictions to the use of the data are described in the ESA Third Party Missions Terms and Conditions document.