Reaching Excellence in Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

ongoing

The Reaching Excellence in Hyperspectral Remote Sensing (EXPERT) twinning proposal aims at improving the excellence capacity and resources of Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) in hyperspectral (HS) remote sensing through knowledge and best practices transfer by Italian Space Agency (ASI) and German Aerospace Center (DLR), i.e. the internationally leading space agencies on satellite, airborne and ground-based HS technologies, including the recent PRISMA, EnMAP, and DESIS missions. The project represents an excellent opportunity to broaden ROSA’s activities, which in turn will increase the involvement of both national and European stakeholders in its research and innovation tasks. The concept of EXPERT is underpinned by three fundamental pillars (research, coordination and support measures, and research management and administration skills), in accordance with the objectives of the proposal. Specifically, the project is focused on capacity building in HS data analysis and ground measurement campaigns, achieved through specific courses, seminars, short staff exchanges, and field campaigns organized under the guidance of ASI and DLR. Considering the clear interdisciplinarity of EXPERT, focus will be given on ROSA’s main areas of expertise and applications, including agriculture, cultural heritage application, and mineralogy. These will also be the topics of joint research in the second part of the project, where ROSA will organize autonomously ground measurement field campaigns and use the data jointly with simultaneous acquisitions of EnMAP, PRISMA, and DESIS data provided by ASI and DLR. Furthermore, special attention will be given to strengthening the research management capacities and administrative skills of ROSA. Together with knowledge advancement, research infrastructure development, joint networking, and outreach activities by the consortium members, these will lead to improving the impact and visibility of ROSA within the EU.