The PRISMA satellite (PRecursore Iperspettrale della Missione Applicativa, i.e: Hyperspectral Precursor of the Application Mission) is an Earth observation system by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with innovative electro-optical instrumentation which combines a hyperspectral sensor with a panchromatic, medium-resolution camera. It is a follow-on project for the cancelled HypSEO mission.
The advantages of this combination are that in addition to the usual capability of observation based on recognising the geometric characteristics of the scene there are hyperspectral sensors which determine the chemical-physical composition of the objects present on the scene.
This offers the scientific community and users many applications in the field of environmental monitoring, resource management, crop classification, pollution control and other things. In addition, there may be other applications in the field of National Security.