Dynamic hyper-spectral imaging of objects in apparent motion

A satellite comprising:

• an imaging device having a plurality of pixel sensors;
• a spectral filter disposed within an optical path of the imaging device, the spectral filter having at least a first spectral band and a second spectral band;
• one or more processors;
• a memory;
• and
• programming instructions stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform acts including:
• determining a spatial region of interest of a scene;
• determining a spectrum of interest;
• determining, based at least in part upon the spectrum of interest, a sampling distance for successive exposures;
• directing the imaging device to take at least one exposure of the scene when light reflected from the spatial region of interest passes through the first spectral band and/or the second spectral band, wherein the first spectral band and/or the second spectral band correspond to the spectrum of interest;
• causing the imaging device to take the successive exposures separated by the sampling distance;
• and
• generating an image of the scene based on the at least one exposure and/or the successive exposures.

A method of operating an imaging system to image a scene having apparent motion, the method comprising:

• providing an area imaging device having a multispectral optical filter;
• determining a speed of the apparent motion of the scene;
• determining a sampling distance, the sampling distance based at least in part upon the speed of the apparent motion of the scene and the multispectral optical filter;
• directing the area imaging device to take a first exposure and at least one second exposure at the sampling distance;
• and
• generating an image of the scene based on the first exposure and the at least one second exposure.