NEMO

NEMO [NRL]

NEMO (Naval Earth Map Observer) was a space-based remote sensing system for collecting broad-area, synoptic, and unclassified Hyperspectral Imagery (HSI) for Naval Forces and the Civil Sector. NEMO meets unique requirements for imaging the littoral regions on a global basis, and also meets civil needs for imagery supporting land use management, agriculture, environmental studies, and mineral exploration.

The satellite was to be built on SS/Loral's LS-400 satellite bus of Globalstar heritage. It was to feature following equipment:

• Hyperspectral Coastal Ocean Imaging Spectrometer (COIS) provides moderate spatial resolution with a 30/60 meter ground sample distance (GSD) and a 30 km swath width. High spectral resolution of 10 nanometers with a spectral range of 400 to 2500 nanometers. Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) greater than 200 over the entire spectral range (SNR is typically greater than 250 for ocean scenes)
• Panchromatic Imaging Camera (5 meter GSD) co-registered with the Coastal Ocean Imaging Spectrometer
• High-performance Imagery On-Board Processor (IOBP) provides greater than 2.5 gigaFLOPS of sustained computational power
• On-board data storage (48 gigabit)
• High data rate X-Band Downlink (150 Mbps)
• Low data rate S-Band Tactical Downlink (1 Mbps)
• Realtime feature extraction and classification with greater than 10x data reduction using NRL's ORASIS algorithm

NEMO was planned for a launch in 2000, but program has been put on hold and has been cancelled since.