From "finding minerals on the soles of our feet" to "exploring minerals with eyes in space," hyperspectral remote sensing is empowering the mining industry.

They traversed mountains and valleys in search of traces, enduring wind and rain to find mineral veins.In many people's minds, mineral exploration is always associated with hardship, exhaustion, and slowness, and is even prone to misjudging, being not only time-consuming and laborious but also likely to miss hidden ore bodies. However, the hyperspectral satellite of CAS Xiguang Aerospace is breaking this conventional wisdom. The hyperspectral "eye in the sky" roaming in space is using cutting-edge technology to transform mineral exploration from "blind guessing and relying on luck" to "precisely pointing the way," opening a new chapter in the application of hyperspectral remote sensing satellites to the mining industry.

Some might ask: How can a satellite in space "see" underground minerals? The answer is actually quite simple—hyperspectral satellites don't directly "see" metallic ore bodies. Instead, they provide crucial clues for mineral exploration by precisely identifying alteration mineral assemblages on and near the Earth's surface. This is their core logic.

The light that our human eyes can see is only red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet, just like an ordinary camera that can only distinguish a few basic colors; but a hyperspectral system is like an ultra-precise "spectral analyzer" that can break sunlight down into hundreds of continuous narrow bands, covering everything from visible light to short-wave infrared, without missing any minute spectral differences.

Just as everyone's fingerprints are unique, each mineral also has its own unique "spectral fingerprint." Specifically:

Visible light to near-infrared (VNIR, 0.4-0.9 micrometers):This range is sensitive to iron-bearing minerals (such as hematite and limonite), hydroxides, and some rare earth elements, and is often used to identify oxidation zones, weathering crusts, and alteration information related to mineralization.

Short-wave infrared (SWIR, 0.9-2.5 micrometers):Possibly the most widely used area in mineral exploration, SWIR images excel at identifying alteration minerals such as phyllosilicates (clay and mica), hydroxysilicates, sulfates, carbonates, and ammonium minerals. These alteration minerals are often closely associated with ore-forming hydrothermal activity, spatially distributed around the ore body, and are important indicators for finding concealed ore bodies.

Long-wave infrared (LWIR, 7.7-11.8 micrometers):This emerging technology represents the forefront of geological remote sensing. LWIR hyperspectral imaging complements VNIR-SWIR data by detecting molecular vibrations in rock-forming minerals such as quartz and feldspar—minerals that lack distinctive features at shorter wavelengths. This capability allows geologists to distinguish between different types of rocks, such as marble, quartzite, or intrusive rocks from various generations that appear identical in standard photographs.

Source: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10091366

The "Xiguang Series" hyperspectral remote sensing satellites, represented by Xiguang-1 YZ satellite (Tanli), have become the core technology support for the new generation of mineral exploration thanks to their "mineral spectral fingerprint" capabilities. They can provide efficient "space-based guidance" for energy exploration and mineral exploration breakthroughs, and truly realize the leap from "experience-based mineral exploration" to "data-driven and intelligent mineral exploration"!

Hyperspectral remote sensing satellites are not intended to replace traditional geological exploration, but rather to serve as a powerful "technical assistant" in mineral exploration."Initial screening, detailed investigation in the middle stage, and verification in the later stage"Three core stages enable full-process empowerment and solve industry pain points.

Preliminary Screening: From "Casting a Wide Net" to "Precise Targeting" to Improve Efficiency

The first step in mineral exploration is to delineate potential "target areas" from a large region. In the traditional model, geological teams have to sample point by point and conduct on-site surveys, wasting a lot of time in "non-mineralized areas".

With the assistance of hyperspectral satellites, everything becomes simple. It can complete hyperspectral scanning of an entire area in a short time, accurately identify anomalies closely related to mineralization through alteration mineral mapping, and directly delineate the areas with the highest mineral exploration value. This saves a significant amount of time and cost for exploration.

Mid-term targeting: From "fuzzy anomalies" to "precise qualitative analysis," improving hit rate.

In traditional exploration, geophysical and geochemical methods can discover "anomaly areas," but it is often difficult to quickly determine whether the anomaly is related to mineralization. Hyperspectral data, on the other hand, can provide direct evidence from a mineralogical perspective, effectively narrowing down the target area.

Hyperspectral data can solve this problem. It can not only mark the location of anomalies, but also analyze the mineral assemblage in the anomaly area. This "precise qualitative" ability allows geological teams to directly pinpoint key exploration locations, avoid blind drilling, and greatly improve the success rate of mineral exploration.

Post-implementation validation: From "blindly deploying sites" to "targeted implementation," reducing costs.

The final stage of mineral exploration requires verifying the results through drilling and trenching. In the traditional model, in order to "not miss any mineral deposits," a "scattershot" approach is often used, which is not only costly but also extremely inefficient.

Hyperspectral data provides precise data for later verification. Geological teams can concentrate drilling and trenching operations in the most promising locations based on the anomaly targets identified by the data, achieving the most efficient verification with the fewest projects. Simultaneously, the verified orebody data can be used to reverse-calibrate satellite interpretation models, making the technology increasingly accurate and forming a complete closed loop of "remote sensing screening – ground verification – model optimization".

Xiguang-1 YZ Satellite (Tanli)

Combining the three major stages of mineral exploration—"preliminary screening, mid-term orientation, and final verification"—the enabling role of hyperspectral remote sensing satellites is reflected in every step, forming a complete exploration closed loop. Thanks to this, CAS Xi'an Aerospace has already collaborated with geological exploration units in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, implementing the technology in areas such as mineral resource exploration and mining area ecological monitoring, verifying its practicality and reliability.

The strong performance of hyperspectral satellites is backed by the long-term plan of Xi'an Xiguang Aerospace for the layout of hyperspectral remote sensing constellations. The ultimate goal is to create China's largest, most comprehensive, user-friendly, and practical hyperspectral remote sensing satellite constellation—the "Xiguang Series"—to comprehensively serve five major fields: agriculture, forestry, water bodies, minerals, and carbon sequestration.

According to the plan, the "Xiguang Series" hyperspectral remote sensing satellite constellation includes 108 general-purpose hyperspectral satellites + infrared monitoring satellites, 40 dual-carbon monitoring hyperspectral satellites, and 10 functional hyperspectral satellites (for ocean, agriculture, forestry and minerals), ultimately achieving the planned construction of a constellation of 158 satellites in orbit.

"Xiguang Series" Constellation Planning

These three constellations each have their own focus and work together to precisely match the application needs of different fields. Among them, the constellation most closely related to mineral exploration consists of 108 general hyperspectral constellations plus infrared monitoring satellites and 10 hyperspectral functional satellites.

In the future, with the full completion of the "Xiguang Series" constellation, CAS Xiguang Aerospace will continue to empower my country's mining, agriculture, forestry, water bodies, and carbon technologies to transform towards digitalization, intelligence, and efficiency, consolidate the foundation for the development of my country's commercial aerospace remote sensing industry, promote the deep integration of aerospace technology and the real economy, help the high-quality development of my country's aerospace industry, demonstrate the core strength of "Made in China" and write a new chapter in the aerospace industry's empowerment of national development in the new era.