The Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) is a space-based research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and developed at Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico.

Overview

MTI was launched March 12, 2000 aboard a Taurus rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and celebrated its 10th anniversary on-orbit in 2010. Its mission is to advance the state-of-the-art in multispectral and thermal imaging.

Ball Aerospace’s Role

Ball Aerospace is currently providing space and ground operations services to Sandia National Laboratories, including: ground segment leadership, engineering, and oversight, spacecraft commands and procedures, spacecraft health diagnosis, and telemetry analysis.

Ball Aerospace also built the spacecraft bus utilizing design elements of the BCP 2000 platform. The spacecraft integration was completed as a team effort between Ball Aerospace and Sandia National Laboratories.

MTI’s primary payload, built by Sandia National Laboratories, is a sophisticated telescope that collects day and night ground images in 15 spectral bands ranging from visible (VIS) to long wave infrared. Applications for this data range from treaty monitoring to mapping of oil and chemical spills, waste heat pollution in lakes and rivers, vegetation health, mine tailings, and volcanic activity.