HySpex
Norwegian hyperspectral instrument manufacturer, owned by Norsk Elektro Optikk (NEO). Product line includes the Mjolnir benchtop and airborne hyperspectral cameras, ODIN and Baldur lines, plus laboratory and field accessories. Established player with deployments across Earth observation, defence, agriculture, mineral exploration, environmental monitoring, and quality control. HySpex instruments are widely used as the airborne hyperspectral reference for spaceborne mineral mapping cal/val campaigns; the 2024 Namibia carbonatite comparative study (Chakraborty et al., Remote Sensing) used HySpex Mjolnir airborne data as one of the reference datasets alongside PRISMA, EnMAP, and EMIT.
HySpex is the commercial hyperspectral imaging brand of Norsk Elektro Optikk AS (NEO), a Norwegian electro-optics company founded in Oslo in 1985. According to neo.no, NEO operates under a foundation-ownership structure that channels profits back into R&D; the underlying legal chain has not been independently confirmed. HySpex instruments are push-broom imaging spectrometers covering the visible-near-infrared (VNIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) spectral ranges, built for airborne, laboratory, and industrial deployment.
The product line spans three active families. The HySpex Classic series, including the VNIR-1800 and SWIR-384, are the company's heritage airborne instruments, used by agencies including USGS and DLR as reference spectrometers for calibration and validation of satellite hyperspectral missions such as EnMAP, PRISMA, and EMIT. The Mjolnir series, designed for airborne and UAV survey use, combines VNIR and SWIR in a single housing (VS-620) with 620 coregistered spatial pixels across the 400-2500 nm range; the Mjolnir V-1240 has flown on Sceye's high-altitude platform system at 70,000 feet. The Baldur series targets industrial process monitoring (pharmaceuticals, food sorting, conveyor-belt mineral identification) rather than airborne remote sensing.
Beyond its established airborne and laboratory instruments, NEO is developing the HySpex Methane Satellite Camera (MSC), a compact SWIR imager for methane detection co-funded by ESA's InCubed programme (development contract circa 2025; not yet flown). In parallel, NEO is the camera designer for the European Defence Agency's Hyper-IP project, a consortium developing a hyperspectral satellite system with airborne demonstration. NEO expanded into the German market through HySpex GmbH, opened in Berlin in November 2024, targeting European customers and the emerging space-segment OEM market.
HySpex instruments are widely used as the airborne hyperspectral reference for spaceborne mineral mapping calibration campaigns, with confirmed deployments at USGS and DLR; operator-reported customers include major mining operators AngloAmerican, BHP, and Vale.