The European Space Agency (ESA) is adapting a high-speed camera used to scan vegetation from space to spot changes in human skin cells to help diagnose skin diseases.
Proba-V (v is for vegetation) is a mini satellite for vegetation-scanning and has an advanced digital infrared sensor used to map land cover and vegetation growth every two days. But today, researchers from ESA say they can adapt the technology for non-space applications. The specialized sensor was made in partnership with the Belgium company, Xenics.
Researchers found that if you mount the camera on a medical scanner, the sensor in Proba-V helps doctors look deeper into human tissues and hopefully detect skin diseases earlier.
To put the Proba-V's detailed scanning into perspective consider this: from space the infared sensor in the camera can detect the difference between two green trees down on earth -- whether one is growing and the other is unhealthy. To the naked eye, we would just see two green trees. The camera sees light we can't see by looking in the shortwave infrared range.
ESA says that Proba-V’s ability to ‘see the unseeable’ makes the camera the perfect product for commercialisation in the medical, solar and manufacturing industries.
