{"id":17095,"date":"2025-09-12T00:58:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/xplore-shows-off-a-hyperspectral-view-of-north-korea-captured-by-xcube-1-imaging-satellite\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T00:58:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T16:58:04","slug":"xplore-shows-off-a-hyperspectral-view-of-north-korea-captured-by-xcube-1-imaging-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/xplore-shows-off-a-hyperspectral-view-of-north-korea-captured-by-xcube-1-imaging-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"Xplore shows off a hyperspectral view of North Korea, captured by XCUBE-1 imaging satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Xplore\u2019s satellite captured this color-coded image in visible and near-infrared wavelengths over North Korea. \u00a92025 Xplore Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nine months after the launch of its first satellite, Bellevue, Wash.-based Xplore is sharing a hyperspectral view of North Korean territory as seen from orbit.<\/p>\n

The image, captured in visible and near-infrared wavelengths by Xplore\u2019s XCUBE-1 satellite, was unveiled today at the Seattle Space Superiority Summit at the Museum of Flight. Xplore\u2019s co-founder and chief operating officer, Lisa Rich, said the picture shows \u201csemi-submerged farms that are likely rice paddies,\u201d plus fish farms and salt flats. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big reveal for us today,\u201d Rich said.<\/p>\n

XCUBE-1 was sent into low Earth orbit last December as part of SpaceX\u2019s Bandwagon-2 satellite rideshare mission. Xplore began sharing imagery from the satellite in June. <\/p>\n

XCUBE-1\u2019s images have a resolution of 5 meters (16 feet) per pixel, and are typically shown in false colors to accentuate differences in terrain. For example, shades of red are used to indicate vegetation. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing more than we expected to see,\u201d Rich said.<\/p>\n

Over the course of repeated flyovers, such images can track the construction of new facilities or other changes in surface features. That can provide valuable insights for intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

Xplore is one of six companies providing hyperspectral satellite data to the National Reconnaissance Office under the terms of five-year contracts awarded in 2023.<\/p>\n

The contracts are part of NRO\u2019s multi-stage effort to learn more about the utility of hyperspectral imagery. The first stage focuses on analytical studies to provide estimates of system capabilities at both the individual sensor and constellation levels, as well as business and cybersecurity planning. The second stage focuses on assessing on-orbit capabilities and procuring data products.<\/p>\n

Providing data for national security purposes is just one of the applications that Xplore is targeting for its \u201cSpace as a Service\u201d business model. The company, which was founded in 2017, is also developing satellites and orbital platforms for commercial remote sensing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xplore\u2019s satellite captured this color-coded image in visible and near-infrared wavelengths over North Korea. \u00a92025 Xplore Inc. Nine months after the launch of its first satellite, Bellevue, Wash.-based Xplore is sharing a hyperspectral view of North Korean territory as seen from orbit. The image, captured in visible and near-infrared wavelengths by Xplore\u2019s XCUBE-1 satellite, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4423,1570,442,4424,4425,4426],"class_list":["post-17095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-earth-imaging","tag-north-korea","tag-satellites","tag-seattle-space-superiority-summit","tag-xcube-1","tag-xplore"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}