Static interferometers are imaging devices, which produce electromagnetic interference for each propagation direction of the accepted light beam. The fundamental component of this type of interferometers is a beam-splitter semi- transparent plate that provides phase-delay between the two interfering rays. The phase-delay changes with varying the incidence angle of the entering ray, thus producing the entire interference pattern while moving the device over the surface of the observed target. Due to their technical characteristics these interferometers can reliably be adapted for aerospace remote sensing applications. This paper describes the result coming from numerical simulations executed in order to investigate the possible use of the static interferometers for remote sensing purposes. The principal objectives are: a deep investigation about interferometers and novel detector technologies, the study of its performance as compared with that of dispersing sensors and the study of a laboratory prototype of the interferometric hyperspectral imager.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.