The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) was a hyperspectral earth observation sensor that operated on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2009 to 2014. HICO collected hyperspectral satellite imagery of the Earth's surface from the ISS.[1][2][3]
HICO was a pathfinder or proof-of-concept mission for hyperspectral imaging of the oceans, particularly for optically complex coastal waters.[4] The dataset collected by HICO serves as an example dataset for future hyperspectral satellite missions such as PACE.
HICO was mounted directly on the ISS rather than on a separate unmanned satellite platform (i.e., distinct from the MODIS sensor mounted on Aqua and Terra satellites and from SeaWiFS mounted on OrbView-2 aka Seastar satellite). As such, HICO was tasked to collect images of certain regions in sync with the daytime orbit path of the ISS. Further, its data record may contain some gaps in time for operational tasks on board the ISS such as spacewalks and docking.