"QI2S will enable dramatic reductions of delay in the delivery of Earth Observation (EO) Hyperspectral (HS) data from image capture to receipt by the end-user of end product on the ground, from days or weeks to real-time or near-real-time which represents an improvement factor of 100x in delay and 420x in effective bandwidth.QI2S will do so by innovating, developing and validating specialised ITAR-free technology for quick onboard EO HS image interpretation systems. The foundation technology is QI2S HyperCore – a custom high-performance 80 GOPS / 20 GFLOPS space-borne Many-Core computing platform; QSBB, a software interpreter with a finite number of finely honed building blocks for HS data on board processing and interpretation, will be developed to fit HyperCore; QMDL, QI2S HS imaging interpretation-mission command language will enable fast-turnaround reconfiguration devoid of elaborate time consuming testing.Building upon those disruptive technologies, QI2S will help usher in the next generation of lightweight HS satellites able to provide the complete suite of onboard geometric, radiometric and atmospheric correction followed by image interpretation and target detection and identification, for day-to-day operations, such as oceanographic mapping, as well as for evolving incidents, such as post disaster analysis.The project will develop detailed specifications, implement them through prototype hardware and software, interface them to standard onboard EO satellite systems, demonstrate the solution via end-user led ground trials and drive the overall approach to pre-normative industry acceptance. QI2S will last 33 months and bring together a satellite company, industry (payload integration, software, onboard processing), research (software atoms, long-term perspective) and a collaborative management service provider.QI2S represents a major step beyond ESA’s roadmap for the development of future payload processors.QI2S will strictly focus on civilian applications. The Ethical Advisory Group will monitor potential dual use."