Ocean Color and Cloud Monitor (OCCAM)

The Ocean Color and Cloud Monitor (OCCaM) is a hyperspectral based instrument suite with ocean color and cloud observational capabilities. Following the successful Phase I SBIR design period, the Phase II effort will focus on the integration of the Phase I design into a benchtop unit for testing and validation of the design concept. The payload was designed to meet the SWaP requirements of a commercially available 12U CubeSat bus. This Phase II effort will assemble a benchtop unit to determine the functionality of the Phase I design. The design will be assembled and integrated with the 12U form factor in mind, but space qualifying the unit will be part of future efforts. Commercial data products from OCCaM will provide data for weather and meteorology disciplines, agriculture and forestry, and commercial fishing to name a few. Additionally, using the selected thermal infrared channels, volcanic ash monitoring will also be possible which impacts the health of safety and the operations of the airline industry. As OCCaM matures, deploying this system alongside ASTRA’s bathymetric lidar system will allow for data fusion techniques that will provide both ocean color and underwater structure.