Proba's main payload is a hyperspectral instrument weighing just 14 kg called CHRIS standing for Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. Despite this small size and a power requirement of just nine watts CHRIS can image an 18.6 square km area at multiple angles, achieving a resolution of 18 m in up to 19 programmable spectral bands. Furthermore its agile platform can be tilted during acquisition to provide images of the same site taken at different angles.

That means CHRIS returns a wealth of biophysical and biochemical data as well as visual information about a given target, and can be used for activities including environmental monitoring, crop forecasting, forest cataloguing and marine science.