Kestrel Corporation is in the business of R&D and design engineering. The firm's earliest years were focused on the development of spectral sensors for remote sensing. Such work resulted in a DOD Phase III multi-million dollar contract that climaxed in the successful launch and operation of Kestrel's Fourier Transform Hyperspectral Imager aboard the Mighty-Sat II satellite in July 2000 for the US Air Force. In 1997, Kestrel branched out by creating an initiative in biomedical imaging for detection of diseases earlier than present technologies. In collaboration with a number of Universities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Medical Test Bed Program (Department of Defense, Loma Linda, CA), the biomedical imaging division adapted technology previously used by Kestrel in its satellite development program, and from other multi-spectral remote sensing devices, to biomedical imaging. .In 1997 Kestrel established its biomedical presence by adapting the technologies previously used in remote sensing projects to biomedical applications. This initiative is continued through the exploitation of other advanced technologies, such as wavefront sensing and adaptive optics, for use in ophthalmology. From this beginning Kestrel has developed several biomedical imaging device systems and associated image processing software capabilities. In 2003, the company received a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Science Prize for its work with Russian scientists in biomedical imaging. In 2005, Kestrels earlier years were focused on the development of spectral sensors for remote sensing and satellite imaging.
