PEGASUS: The new generation of airborne hyperspectral sensors

PEGASUS is the new generation of compact and lightweight hyperspectral scanners
currently being developed by Alto Americas S.A. science team. These sensors
were designed by Alto Americas’ former parent company Alto Technology Resources,
Inc. (ATRI) in conjunction with SpecTerra Systems Pty. Ltd. The 43 narrow channels
of PEGASUS cover a wide spectral range—from ultraviolet to thermal infrared, at
several ground resolutions. The bands are placed over distinct spectral features of
most mineral types, thus providing an invaluable tool for geologists in the modeling of
mineral occurrences and process distributions, and for the mining companies in the
identification of exploration targets. This presentation consists of a short description
of PEGASUS and a brief display of some of its capabilities as inferred from simulated
data over Cuprite, Nevada. Data simulation was performed using test datasets
acquired by TEEMS, ATRI’s 212-band airborne hyperspectral scanner. Several
processing techniques were applied on this simulated data, and the results match the
known multispectral and hyperspectral mineral maps of the area.