NASA’s new orbital imaging spectrometers

Abstract : Remote imaging spectroscopy is entering a renaissance, with new orbital instruments providing global coverage to address pressing Earth science questions. Simultaneously, data quality has advanced with improved instrument alignment, radiometric sensitivity, and atmospheric correction methods. We describe these advances in the context of NASA’s EMIT mission launched to the International Space Station in July 2022. We present EMIT’s on-orbit performance, data analysis, and validation. We close with a discussion of future missions such as NASA’s Surface Biology and Geology investigation slated to launch late in the decade. SBG will provide global coverage at a regular cadence, approaching the density of today’s Landsat or Sentinel programs. New orbital missions, with open source analyses and license-free global datasets, promise to revolutionize the way we view the Earth from space.