Abstract
We present ESTO FluidCam 1 & 2, Visible and NIR Fluid-Lensing-enabled CubeSats, as part of a focused 2014 earth science technology development to design, build and implement novel Fluid-Lensing-based computational optical imagers for automated 3D mapping and remote sensing of underwater coastal targets from airborne and space-borne platforms. Fluid Lensing has recently been used to map coral reefs underwater from UAV platforms at sub-cm scale and enabled 3D reconstruction, which has proven a ground-breaking tool in modern marine research for marine biosphere assessment and conservation. Two 1.5U (10 cm x 10 cm x 15 cm) CubeSat-platform-based space-qualified imaging payloads were developed specifically to meet the unique high-bandwidth requirements for imaging with Fluid Lensing and represent the highest-bandwidth CubeSat payloads developed to date and raised to TRL 6 as part of this project. We share validation, testing results and preliminary data from field campaigns captured from FluidCam 1 & 2. Finally, we discuss future plans for these space-capable imaging units that will further advance the TRL of a 6U CubeSat for remote sensing of coastal ecosystems from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) - a low-cost technology that would have immediate and broad applicability to large-scale automated species identification, morphology studies and ecosystem characterization for shallow marine biospheres, of crucial importance to understanding climate change's impact on coastal zones, global oxygen production and carbon sequestration.