The Jenoptik subsidiary supplied the fifth multi-spectral imager called Jena Spaceborne Scanner (JSS) for the satellite platform RapidEye. Jena-Optronik GmbH received the order for the development and production of the multi-spectral imagers from the Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the lead prime contractor for RapidEye AG in 2004 via a subcontract issued to MDA by the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Canadian Government agency specialized in facilitating trade between Canadian suppliers and foreign buyers. The RapidEye satellite system is composed of five identical Earth observation satellites, and each of them is equipped with one imager from the Jenoptik subsidiary. Covering the Earth's surface continuously line-by-line (pushbroom principle) JSS enables the precise data acquisition of an approximately 80 kilometres wide strip of land with a pixel size of 6.5 metres out of 630 km. The camera system is working in five spectral channels, covering the wavelength range from visible to near infrared.
The five cameras will provide pin sharp multi-spectral and high resolution images. The JSS will allow the access to any point on Earth every day. The formation of the satellite system enables a constant global coverage and therefore up-to-date information on a daily basis. Due to the high repetition rate the gained data provide important information in the field of environmental monitoring, landscape architecture or disaster management. Beyond that there is going to be an increased commercial benefit for potential end users such as agricultural insurers, who need to forecast or report damages, institutions such as the EU, companies which trade in agricultural commodities and farm corporations that rely on precision crop management.
With the imagers for the RapidEye satellites Jena-Optronik ties in the tradition and know-how of former space developments in Jena. As the multi-spectral camera MKF-6 was film-based today's systems are digital pushbroom imagers with state-of-the-art triple reflex lenses, which are applied within several Earth observation programs. The development of the JSS proceeded in collaboration with regional partners from the optical cluster Jena. Thus important elements of the camera's telescope were realised by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering.
