Satellite situation picture · dual-use

The wide view from space — the close view from h-aero®.

Open Hub Viewer brings ESA Sentinel optical and radar data into the browser, with AI search and before/after comparison. It shows where something changed. The h-aero® platform then stays on station there for hours, quietly, with the payload the situation calls for.

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10 moptical ground resolution (Sentinel-2)

All-weatherradar through cloud and at night (Sentinel-1)

9spectral instruments in the browser

2–5 daysoptical revisit, depending on region

AIsearch, detection and change comparison

Capabilities

What the viewer does

Optical and radar

Sentinel-2 true and false colour at 10 m; Sentinel-1 radar (VV, VH, colour composite) independent of cloud and daylight.

Nine instruments, freely combined

True colour, false colour, NDVI, NIR, SWIR and radar — stacked, blended and weighted in the browser, without GIS software. Combining them brings out contrasts no single layer shows: moisture, stress, disturbance, structure.

Before and after

Same orbit, two dates: changes on the ground stand out — water, debris, damaged areas, new structures.

AI search and detection

Free-text search navigates to a location; objects are marked with a confidence level and movement status.

Draw and analyse

Draw an area or a line — a corridor, a slope, a perimeter — and capture it with the matching index at once.

Report and share

Snapshots of the situation picture as a report or private link for the command staff.

Case study · 26 August 2026

Nepal–Tibet glacial flood

An ice-rock avalanche dammed the Lhende river near Kyirong (Tibet). The dam burst; the flood wave reached the Nepalese border post at Rasuwagadhi within minutes and ran about 100 km down the Trishuli valley. Monsoon cloud covered 51–88 % of the optical scenes — the radar pair before and after carries the situation picture.

Open Hub Viewer showing the Kyirong valley and the instrument list — **Viewer:** Kyirong valley, 3×3 tile capture, instrument list at right.

Sentinel-2 optical image of 24 August 2026 — **Optical, 24 Aug (before):** valley floor visible between monsoon clouds.

Sentinel-1 radar image VV of 16 August 2026 — **Radar VV, 16 Aug (reference):** same orbit as the image after the event.

Sentinel-1 radar image VV of 28 August 2026 — **Radar VV, 28 Aug (+2 days):** independent of cloud — water dark, debris and rock bright.

16 Aug
radar · reference

22 Aug
optical · 78 % cloud

24 Aug
radar + optical

26 Aug
event

27 Aug
optical · 79 % cloud

28 Aug
radar · after

1 Sep
optical · 88 % cloud

From satellite to platform

Wide view, situation picture, close view

01 · WIDE VIEW

Sentinel over the area

Optical and radar over the entire area, every few days; radar independent of weather.

02 · SITUATION PICTURE

Analysis in the browser

Area drawn, before and after compared, objects marked with confidence — the picture decides where to look closer.

03 · CLOSE VIEW

h-aero® on station

Hours in the air, below 40 dB, payload up to 3 kg — thermal, gimbal RGB, LiDAR, acoustics; data in near real time.

Capture at several flight altitudes — **Close view:** capture at several flight altitudes — area-wide and in layers.

Ground station with live analysis — **Ground station:** maps and dashboards during the operation.

Applications

Civil protection and defence — one situation picture

Disaster response

Flood, landslide, wildfire, storm and earthquake: extent, access routes and damage — before the first team arrives.

Situational awareness

A persistent overview for the command staff; the platform holds the picture where satellites only revisit.

Infrastructure and terrain

Change detection along corridors, slopes, bridges and sites — prioritising where to look closer.

Observation only: the system builds situational awareness. Satellite data: Copernicus Sentinel, ESA.

Access

Try it — or ask for a walk-through

The viewer opens after a short consent step (currently in German). For a live walk-through or extended use, please contact us.

Open the viewer →Request a walk-through

More: h-aero.eu — defence & security · h-aero.it — disaster response · h-aero.com