A little over a month after its launch, Menut, the second nanosatellite put into orbit by the Government of Catalonia within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy, has provided its first images of the Earth obtained from space: an infrared image (scale shades of gray) of a swamp near New Orleans, USA, and a color (RGB) image of clouds over Europe.
Although Menut still has to go through a stage of calibration tests and start-up of all its subsystems before entering service, the photos taken constitute a remarkable milestone because they demonstrate the proper functioning in orbit of the latest generation camera with which it is equipped. the satellite and validate that it can produce images in color and with good definition.
Thus, the color image of clouds over Europe, where the Earth’s surface is also visible, shows the three bands of basic colors RGB (red-green-blue, for its acronym in English). With this image it is proven that Menut will be able to take photographs in real colors, since when the three basic colors are combined we obtain what our eyes would see.
On the other hand, the grayscale image of an area near New Orleans, where many terrain features can be seen, shows that Menut will be able to take high-resolution photos.
“We are very satisfied with this first response from Menut, which is passing all the set-up tests with flying colors to enter service and be able to fulfill its mission,” said the Secretary for Digital Policies, Gina Tost i Faus. «This milestone encourages us as a Government to deepen the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia to continue promoting the Catalan space ecosystem. We must place it on the international game board of a sector that will have exponential growth in the world and in which Catalonia must play a role », she pointed out.
Cloud-covered area of Europe, where part of the Earth’s surface can be glimpsed. This image highlights the ability of Menut to obtain photographs in real colors based on its multispectrality, in which the 3 bands of the basic colors (RGB, that is, red, green and blue) can be appreciated, which when combined provide an image such as the human eye would appreciate it. (Image: OpenCosmos)
For his part, Jordi Castellví Esturi, Senior Mission Manager of Open Cosmos, says: «We are very happy with how Menut is working; only a month after the launch we have already managed to get these first images. The high definition camera that we placed will allow us to have color images like these and of very good quality. However, we continue to work every day to further improve the quality of the images and data that we will receive, and this will help us to continue advancing in the knowledge of all the effects that climate change is having on our territory.”
In the same sense, Ignasi Ribas Canudas, director of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), has highlighted that “with Menut, use cases such as the analysis of the productivity of crops and soils will be implemented; the prevention and detection of forest fires; water management, and monitoring, control and protection of the environment and maritime activity, among others. And he added that “this mission is a new step towards the consolidation and growth of the sector, driven by public-private collaboration.”
Preparing to go into service
Promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya and the IEEC, and developed by Open Cosmos, Menut is the second nanosatellite that the Government of Catalonia has put into orbit within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia and the first whose mission is to observe the Land to help improve land management and help monitor and combat the effects of the climate crisis.
Its launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the American company SpaceX took place on January 3 at 3:56 p.m. from the Cape Canaveral space base in Florida (USA). After 62 minutes, the launch rocket ejected the Catalan nanosatellite into its destination orbit, 538 kilometers above Earth, and a few hours later, they contacted Menut for the first time.
Two weeks after entering orbit, Menut successfully closed the phase called LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase), which consists of checking the status and good communication with each of the satellite subsystems in each pass, that the satellite is stable in orbit and that it is in a safe power mode.
Once this first phase has been completed, Menut is now in the start-up phase, where the objective is to test and validate all the functionalities of the different components and systems that comprise it.
One of these components is the camera that will allow Menut to record images from space with a resolution of 5 meters and multispectral (that is, it separates the different colors or bands of a photograph into different files). After being analyzed and processed with the latest image processing technology, these images will make it possible to monitor the impact of climate change.
During the go-live phase, which is expected to be complete by mid-March, each subsystem is tested individually to ensure that its standard functionality is operational, and then end-to-end functionality is tested. Also, a series of calibration activities are carried out to improve the quality of the images. (Source: IEEC / Generalitat de Catalunya / Open Cosmos)