Preparing for space: Increasing technical readiness of low-cost high-performance remote sensing using high-altitude ballooning

Abstract

Two widely available, small size, weight and power camera systems were flown above 97 % of Earth’s atmosphere and showed utility in single filter vegetation and soil analysis in a space analogue environment. The experiment was conducted as a low-cost verification and test analogue to flying on vastly more expensive low Earth orbit missions. Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used as the metric by which performance was analysed for ground calibration testing, low and near-space altitude remote sensing. Ground calibration testing with a laboratory-grade spectrometer revealed that both cameras were able to return consistent NDVI results, and high-altitude balloon flight allowed similar data capture from an environment similar to space. Although compressed captured imagery had been processed using gamma correction and pre-image processing, these were able to be corrected provided that access to radiometrically-calibrated data was available. The two hobbyist cameras were shown to return scientifically useful results, demonstrating performance, and additionally their utility for citizen science applications in the near-space environment.