ProSmart: German preparatory programme for the industrial utilization of next-generation satellite remote sensing data

With the availability of high-resolution satellite remote sensing data from both optical- (multi- and hyperspectral) and SAR- (multi frequencies and polarisations) sensors in the next few years new possibilities for various applications are forecasted. Although some of these applications had been demonstrated by remote sensing laboratories with simulated (airborne) data, robust algorithms, methods and processing chains are yet to be developed to establish services for information products by the service industry. In the ProSmart-Project service companies under the coordination of Dornier Satellitensysteme are developing these products together with experienced scientists from remote sensing universities and potential key-customers with a representative position in a special market segment. Tailored to the application, the developers will make use of the hyperspectral scanner HyMap/sup TM/ (Integrated Spectronics), the multispectral stereo camera HRSC (DLR) and the multi-frequency polarimetric E-SAR (DLR), which are flown on airborne platforms in five campaigns in 1998 and 1999. A catalogue of potential commercial products, a network of potential service partners for the utilization and details about the business cases and the market situation of each of the products will be the results of this project.