The HOPE team in Sarajevo, Bosnia July 2001, during testing in prepared mine fields. To the left, the HOPE prototype with the ground penetration radar (GPR). To the right, a second HOPE prototype with the radiometer. The HOPE mine detectors used in the Bosnia test campaign include general purpose processing PC-based equipment, the processing system in the final HOPE land mine detector will be replaced by a small target processing unit. The Handheld Operational Demining System (HOPE) project is part of the European Union’s efforts to support humanitarian demining operations. ESA assists these efforts under its Technology Transfer Programme, which supports the use of space technology in non-space fields. The HOPE is a three-sensor system innovative mine detector. It first uses a classical metal detector to locate potential mines and then, once a possible landmine is located, HOPE’s two additional sensors come into operation: the GPR and the radiometer. The GPR was originally developed for space exploration. Photo: P.Nielsen