Visible to Near-Infrared (400 - 2500 nm) hyperspectral mapping of geologic targets from a small Unmanned Aerial System

The pace of innovation in the commercial development of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS, or "drones") over the past ~6 years has been intense. sUASs have become lighter, capable of longer duration missions, easier to command and control, and capable of carrying larger and heavier payloads. At the same time, remote sensing technology has continued to produce lighter and smaller instruments. Hyperspectral imagers operating in wavelengths from the visible out to ~1000 nm have been used in the agricultural sector for several years, but mineralogical mapping in that wavelength range is largely restricted to Fe-bearing phases. Now, instruments with an extended near-infrared range (to 2500 nm) are becoming light and small enough for sUAS deployment, enabling very high spatial resolution mapping of a much greater variety of minerals. The purpose of this presentation is to present first results from one such instrument, a HySpex Mjolnir VS-620 Hyperspectral Camera, flown on a 1400SE - BFD HySpex Edition octocopter. This instrument operates in a spectral range from 400 to 2500 nm at a spectral sampling interval of 3.0 or 5.1 nm (depending on the spectral segment). It has 620 cross-track pixels in a pushbroom configuration. Pixel IFOV is 0.54 mrad, yielding a ground spatial resolution of 2.7 cm from a typical flight altitude of 50 m. Peak signal-to-noise ratio varies from 180-900. This instrument and drone were purchased using funding from NASA's Planetary Major Equipment (PME) program, proposed as a supplement to a parent Exobiology proposal to study the sedimentary architecture of braided river and braided-delta environments preserved within rocks of the early Cambrian, deposited prior to the colonization of dry land by rooted plants. The instrument was proposed as a PME "Facility Instrument," meaning it is intended not just for use in the parent Exobiology project, but also as a resource for the broader community, supporting a wide range of planetary science research at terrestrial analog sites. We will describe our plans to make this resource (including personnel to operate it) available "at cost" to other researchers in the community who have a need for this type of data for their field sites.