Explore detailed hyperspectral insights into land, vegetation and water
IPERLITE, the Belgian hyperspectral in-orbit demonstration mission, has completed its commissioning phase and entered its operational phase. Its hyperspectral data products can be explored or requested through Terrascope, opening new opportunities for scientific research and innovative Earth observation applications.
IPERLITE's CSIMBA hyperspectral instrument observes the Earth in 133 spectral bands across the visible and near-infrared spectrum (465–900 nm), with a 20-metre ground sampling distance and an 80 km swath. These detailed spectral observations can reveal subtle differences across vegetation, land and water surfaces that are difficult to distinguish with conventional multispectral imagery. This creates opportunities for applications such as crop and vegetation monitoring, crop-type discrimination, vegetation condition and phenology, as well as biodiversity and ecosystem research, environmental monitoring, and coastal turbidity and sediment monitoring.
Explore available IPERLITE data or request a new acquisition
Terrascope serves as the data-access platform for IPERLITE. Level-1C and Level-2A collections are available through the Terrascope STAC catalogue, where registered users can search observations by location and acquisition date, inspect product metadata, and access and download available data. IPERLITE data is open and free, and includes observations already acquired by the mission, including those collected in response to previous user requests.
Looking for data over an area that is not yet covered? Users can request a new acquisition over a specific area of interest. As IPERLITE is an in-orbit demonstration mission, new acquisition requests are reviewed and satellite tasking is performed on a best-effort basis. The timing and successful acquisition of new observations cannot be guaranteed and depend on factors such as cloud cover, weather, orbit and spacecraft constraints. Once acquired, the resulting data is made openly available to all registered users through Terrascope.
Data access overview
IPERLITE data is available across the Terrascope ecosystem, from data discovery and interactive exploration through the STAC catalogue to analysis and processing with Jupyter Notebooks, Virtual Machines and cloud infrastructure. Programmatic access and OGC web services (WMTS, WCS and WMS) are also available for integration into external workflows and applications.
- Explore available IPERLITE data in the Terrascope STAC catalogue:
Level-1C collection: top-of-atmosphere reflectance, with 133 spectral bands at 20 m ground sampling distance.
Level-2A collection: top-of-canopy reflectance, with 133 spectral bands at 20 m ground sampling distance.
Both are distributed as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs, with one file per spectral band.
- Request new observations over your area of interest via the IPERLITE user acquisition request form.
- Discover more about the IPERLITE mission and data products in the Terrascope documentation
Data quality note: IPERLITE is an in-orbit demonstrator, and calibration and validation of the CSIMBA instrument continue to improve. The Level-1C V1 products are released with known radiometric limitations, particularly in the less sensitive 650–900 nm range. We are working to improve the radiometric calibration using additional in-flight data being acquired. Radiometric, spectral and geometric accuracy may therefore evolve as the mission progresses. Users should consult the quality information supplied with each product.
BELSPO call for IPERLITE data use proposals
BELSPO has launched a dedicated call for IPERLITE data use proposals within the STEREO IV Dissemination and Support projects. The call supports small, short-term projects focused on the use and exploitation of IPERLITE data, with the aim of supporting and raising the visibility of the Belgian IPERLITE satellite mission.
Projects can have a maximum duration of six months and a budget of up to €30,000. The deadline for proposals is 20 November 2026.
Learn more about the STERO IV call.
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IPERLITE is led by VITO and uses Aerospacelab's VSP-150 satellite platform. The IPERLITE mission successfully launched on 28 November 2025. The main payload on board is the CSIMBA instrument (Compact Smartspectral Imager for Monitoring Bio-agricultural Areas), which includes a powerful hyperspectral sensor designed by AMOS to capture Earth observation imagery at an enhanced spatial resolution of 20 metres. IPERLITE is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). |
