Summary of Satellite Instrument Characteristics $Id: short_inter-instrument_comparison.txt,v 1.9 2003-02-05 14:41:30-07 braup Exp braup $ ============================================================================== ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping), 0.52-0.77 um, 2.5 m pixels, DEMs with 2.5 m horizontal and 3 to 5 m vertical resolution AVNIR-2 (Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer-Type 2): 4 vis/nir bands, 10 m pixels, 70 km swath PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar): L-band SAR at either 10 m, 70 km swath or 100 m, 250 to 350 km swath See http://yyy.tksc.nasda.go.jp/Home/Earth_Obs/e/alos_e.html Expected launch date: summer of 2002 ============================================================================== AMSR-E Advance Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System On Aqua, launched 2002-05-04 ============================================================================== ASTER: Total number of nadir-looking bands: 14 VNIR 3 bands, 520 nm -- 860 nm SWIR 6 bands, 1600 nm -- 2430 nm TIR 5 bands, 8475 nm -- 11650 nm One backward-looking band for stereo: 760 nm -- 860 nm Stereo capability: Yes (along-track; 53 second time separation between pairs) Spatial resolution: VNIR 15 m SWIR 30 m TIR 90 m Pan-chomatic mode: None Swath width: 60 km Cross-track pointing capability (degrees): VNIR +- 24 SWIR +- 8.55 TIR +- 8.55 Cross-track pointing capability (km): VNIR 318 SWIR 116 TIR 116 Quantization (bits) VNIR 8 SWIR 8 TIR 12 Date of launch: December 18, 1999, 10:57:39 am PST Orbit [from http://www.heavens-above.com/orbitdisplay.asp?lat=0&lng=0&alt=0&loc=Unspecified&TZ=CET&satid=25994]: Epoch (UTC): 6:45:40 AM, Tuesday, February 13, 2001 Eccentricity: 0.0001235 Inclination: 98.1632 degrees Perigee Height: 701 km Apogee Height: 703 km Right Ascension of Ascending Node: 123.7265 degrees Argument of Perigee: 34.2837 degrees Revolutions per Day: 14.57134373 Mean Anomaly at Epoch: 325.8441 degrees Orbit Number at Epoch: 6158 Instrument mass: 450 kg ============================================================================== Aura Web site: http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Instruments: HIRDLS High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder MLS Microwave Limb Sounder OMI Ozone Monitoring Instrument TES Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer ============================================================================== AVHRR [See http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/1KM/avhrr.sensor.html] Spectral Range Band Satellites: Satellites: IFOV # NOAA-6,8,10 NOAA-7,9,11,12,14 1 0.58 - 0.68 0.58 - 0.68 1.39 2 0.725 - 1.10 0.725 - 1.10 1.41 3 3.55 - 3.93 3.55 - 3.93 1.51 4 10.50 - 11.50 10.3 - 11.3 1.41 5 band 4 repeated 11.5 - 12.5 1.30 (micrometers) (micrometers) (milliradians) NOAA-17 was launched 2002-06-24, 18:23 UTC. This AVHRR includes one additional band in the visible range that will be used to provide the capability to distinguish between clouds and snow/ice on the ground. ============================================================================== ENVISAT Web site: http://envisat.esa.int/ ENVISAT has ten instruments on it: ASAR Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar - Follow-on to ERS-1/2 SARs. C-band. GOMOS Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars LRR Laser Retroreflector - Passive array of corner cubes for satellite ranging MIPAS Michelson Interferomter for Passive Atmospheric Sounding - measures stratospheric chemistry and cimatology MERIS MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer Instrument - "MERIS is a 68.5 o field-of-view pushbroom imaging spectrometer that measures the solar radiation reflected by the Earth, at a ground spatial resolution of 300 m, in 15 spectral bands, programmable in width and position, in the visible and near infra-red. MERIS allows global coverage of the Earth in 3 days." -- website. Primarily designed for measuring ocean color. MWR Microwave Radiometer - mainly to measure the integrated atmospheric water vapour column and cloud liquid water content, as correction terms for the radar altimeter signal. RA-2 Radar Altimeter 2. - 1.7 km beam footprint. AATSR Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer. - ATSR follow-on. Measures sea surface temps. DORIS Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite - tracking system provides orbit accuracy on order of centimeters SCIAMACHY SCanning IMaging Absorption SpectoMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY - measures traces gases in atmosphere Envisat Orbit: Mean Altitude: 799.8 km Altitude range: 780 km - 820 km Orbits per Day 14 11/35 Repeat cycle: 35 days Orbits in cycle: 501 Orbit period 100.59 minutes MLST at descending node: 10:00 Inclination 98.55 Orbit velocity 7.45 km/s Predicted launch date: 2002-03-01 (as of 2001-12-19) ============================================================================== EO-1 (Earth Observing-1) There are three instruments on EO-1: ALI (Advanced Land Imager), Atmospheric Corrector (AC), and Hyperion. ALI: Band Wavelength (µm) Ground Sample Distance (m) =========================================================== Pan 0.48 - 0.69 10 ----------------------------------------------------------- MS-1' 0.433 - 0.453 30 MS-1 0.45 - 0.515 30 MS-2 0.525 - 0.605 30 MS-3 0.63 - 0.69 30 MS-4 0.775 - 0.805 30 MS-4' 0.845 - 0.89 30 MS-5' 1.2 - 1.3 30 MS-5 1.55 - 1.75 30 MS-7 2.08 - 2.35 30 AC: Spectral coverage of 0.85 µm to 1.5 µm, bands are selected for optimal correction of high spatial resolution images. Hyperion: Has 220 spectral bands from 0.4 µm to 2.5 µm, with 30 m spatial resolution. The instrument can image a 7.5 km by 100 km land area per image and provide detailed spectral mapping across all 220 channels with high radiometric accuracy. Launch: On 2000-11-21, from Vandenberg Airforce Base Website: http://eo1.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ============================================================================== GLAS (Geoscience Laser Altimeter System): This EOS instrument, to ride on the ICESat platform, is a Laser Altimeter (non-imaging), which has a nadir-pointing Nd:YAG laser pulsed at 40 Hz. Each laser beam makes a 70 m spot on the ground; these spots are separated by 170 m. Cross-track resolution ranges from 15 km at the equator to 2.5 km at 80 degrees latitude. The instrument will run continuously. [See duda:2001] Pulse width (FWHM): 5 ns Beam divergence: 0.1 mrad (60 m spot size) Two lidar systems: 1.064 µm (IR, for surface altimetry); 0.532 µm (green, for atmospheric measurements) By measuring the round-trip time for the laser pulses, and by accurately knowing the position of the ICESat platfrom via the on-board GPS receivers, topography will be accurately determined. The main application is ice sheet topography. Orbit altitude: 600 km Date of launch: January 12, 2003 ============================================================================== GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) "GRACE employs an extremely precise satellite-to-satellite microwave tracking system between two spacecraft 170 km to 270 km apart to measure the Earth's gravitational field and its variations from solar maximum to solar minimum." [from The Earth Observer, Jan/Feb 2002, vol 14, no 1] Date of launch: 2002-03-17 ============================================================================== IKONOS satellite containing a digital camera system designed and built by Kodak See http://www.spaceimaging.com/. Resolution: 1 m panchromatic (nominal at <26 deg off nadir) 4 m multispectral (nominal at <26 deg off nadir) Imagery Spectral Response: Panchromatic: 0.45 - 0.90 micrometers Multispectral (same as Landsat 4&5 TM Bands #1-4): #1: Blue 0.45 - 0.52 micrometers #2: Green 0.52 - 0.60 micrometers #3: Red 0.63 - 0.69 micrometers #4: Near IR 0.76 - 0.90 micrometers Swath width: 13 km at nadir Orbit: Altitude: 681 km Inclination: 98.1 deg Speed: 7 km/s Orbit time: 98 minutes Descending nodal crossing time: 10:30am Type: sun-synchronous Date of launch: September 24, 1999 at 11:21 am PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA ============================================================================== Landsat 4, 5 (Thematic Mapper): Total number of nadir-looking bands: 7 VNIR 4 bands, 450 nm -- 900 nm SWIR 2 bands, 1550 nm -- 2350 nm TIR 1 band, 10400 nm -- 12500 nm Stereo capability: None Spatial resolution: VNIR 30 m SWIR 30 m TIR 120 m Pan-chomatic mode: None Swath width: 185 km Cross-track pointing capability: None Quantization (bits) VNIR 8 SWIR 8 TIR 8(?) Date of launch: ? ============================================================================== Landsat 7 (ETM+): Total number of nadir-looking bands: 7 VNIR 4 bands, 450 nm -- 900 nm SWIR 2 bands, 1550 nm -- 2350 nm TIR 1 band, 10400 nm -- 12500 nm [from http://landsat7.usgs.gov/browse/etm.html] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Landsat 7 and ETM+ Characteristics: Band Number Spectral Range(micrometers) Ground Resolution(m) 1 .45 to .515 30 2 .525 to .605 30 3 .63 to .690 30 4 .75 to .90 30 5 1.55 to 1.75 30 6 10.40 to 12.5 60 7 2.09 to 2.35 30 Pan .52 to .90 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Swath width: 185 kilometers Repeat coverage interval: 16 days (233 orbits) Altitude: 705 kilometers Quantization: Best 8 of 9 bits (all bands) On-board data storage: ~375 Gb (solid state) Inclination: Sun-synchronous, 98.2 degrees Equatorial crossing: Descending node; 10:00am +/- 15 min. Stereo capability: None Cross-track pointing capability: None Date of launch: April 15, 1999, 11:32am PDT, Vandenberg AFB, CA Launch vehicle: Delta II ============================================================================== MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer): Web site: http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ To accomplish its scientific objectives, the MISR instrument will measure Earth's brightness in 4 spectral bands, at each of 9 look angles spread out in the forward and aft directions along the flight path. Spatial samples are acquired every 275 meters. Over a period of 7 minutes, a 360 km wide swath of Earth comes into view at all 9 angles. Special attention has been paid to providing highly accurate absolute and relative calibration, using on-board hardware consisting of deployable solar diffuser plates and several types of photodiodes. To complement the on-board calibration effort, a validation program of in situ measurements is planned, involving field instruments, one of which is the "PARABOLA III", which automatically scans the sky and ground at many angles, and a multi-angle aircraft camera (AirMISR). Global coverage with the satellite MISR will be acquired about once in 9 days at the equator; the nominal mission lifetime is 6 years. ============================================================================== MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer): Web site: http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Specs from web site: Orbit: 705 km, 10:30 a.m. descending node (Terra) or 1:30 p.m. ascending node (Aqua), sun-synchronous, near-polar, circular Scan Rate: 20.3 rpm, cross track Swath Dimensions: 2330 km (cross track) by 10 km (along track at nadir) Telescope: 17.78 cm diam. off-axis, afocal (collimated), with intermediate field stop Size: 1.0 x 1.6 x 1.0 m Weight: 228.7 kg Power: 162.5 W (single orbit average) Data Rate: 10.6 Mbps (peak daytime); 6.1 Mbps (orbital average) Quantization: 12 bits Spatial Resolution: 250 m (bands 1-2) 500 m (bands 3-7) 1000 m (bands 8-36) Design Life: 6 years ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Primary Use Band Bandwidth1 (nm) Spectral Required Radiance2 SNR3 Land/Cloud/Aerosols 1 620 - 670 21.8 128 Boundaries 2 841 - 876 24.7 201 Land/Cloud/Aerosols 3 459 - 479 35.3 243 Properties 4 545 - 565 29.0 228 5 1230 - 1250 5.4 74 6 1628 - 1652 7.3 275 7 2105 - 2155 1.0 110 Ocean Color/ 8 405 - 420 44.9 880 Phytoplankton/ 9 438 - 448 41.9 838 Biogeochemistry 10 483 - 493 32.1 802 11 526 - 536 27.9 754 12 546 - 556 21.0 750 13 662 - 672 9.5 910 14 673 - 683 8.7 1087 15 743 - 753 10.2 586 16 862 - 877 6.2 516 Atmospheric 17 890 - 920 10.0 167 Water Vapor 18 931 - 941 3.6 57 19 915 - 965 15.0 250 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Primary Use Band Bandwidth1 (um) Spectral Required Radiance2 NE[delta]T(K)4 Surface/Cloud 20 3.660 - 3.840 0.45(300K) 0.05 Temperature 21 3.929 - 3.989 2.38(335K) 2.00 22 3.929 - 3.989 0.67(300K) 0.07 23 4.020 - 4.080 0.79(300K) 0.07 Atmospheric 24 4.433 - 4.498 0.17(250K) 0.25 Temperature 25 4.482 - 4.549 0.59(275K) 0.25 Cirrus Clouds 26 1.360 - 1.390 6.00 150(SNR) Water Vapor 27 6.535 - 6.895 1.16(240K) 0.25 28 7.175 - 7.475 2.18(250K) 0.25 Cloud Properties 29 8.400 - 8.700 9.58(300K) 0.05 Ozone 30 9.580 - 9.880 3.69(250K) 0.25 Surface/Cloud 31 10.780 - 11.280 9.55(300K) 0.05 Temperature 32 11.770 - 12.270 8.94(300K) 0.05 Cloud Top 33 13.185 - 13.485 4.52(260K) 0.25 Altitude 34 13.485 - 13.785 3.76(250K) 0.25 35 13.785 - 14.085 3.11(240K) 0.25 36 14.085 - 14.385 2.08(220K) 0.35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Bands 1 to 19 are in nm; Bands 20 to 36 are in ?m 2 Spectral Radiance values are (W/m2 -?m-sr) 3 SNR = Signal-to-noise ratio 4 NE(delta)T = Noise-equivalent temperature difference Note: Performance goal is 30-40% better than required Curator: MODIS Webmaster Last revised: Friday, 15-Dec-2000 12:15:02 EST Authorized by: Barbara Conboy, MAST Leader ============================================================================== NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project) Bridge between EOS instruments Terra and Aqua and NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System) http://jointmission.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Planned launch in 2006. ============================================================================== NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System) Planned launch in 2009. ============================================================================== QuickBird (DigitalGlobe, http://www.digitalglobe.com/) Orbit: 98 degree sun-synchronous Modes: Panchromatic (450 nm to 900 nm) Multispectral 450 nm to 520 nm (blue) 520 nm to 600 nm (green) 630 nm to 690 nm (red) 760 nm to 900 nm (near IR) GIFOV: 610 mm (panchromatic mode) 2.44 m (multispectral mode) Swath width: 16.5 km Launch Date: 2001-10-18 ============================================================================== RADARSAT: SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) characteristics: Frequency / Wavelength 5.3GHz/C-band 5.6 cm RF Bandwidth 11.6, 17.3 or 30.0 Mhz Transmitter Power (peak) 5 kW Transmitter Power (average) 300 W Maximum Data Rate 85 Mb/s (recorded) - 105 Mb/s (R/T) Antenna Size 15m x 1.5m Antenna Polarization HH Imaging Modes: RESOLUTION MODE (m) LOOKS(2) WIDTH INCIDENCE ANGLE(3) Range(1) x azimuth (m) (km) (degrees) Standard 25 x 28 4 100 20-49 Wide - 1 48-30 x 28 4 165 20 - 31 Wide - 2 32-25 x 28 4 150 31 - 39 Fine resolution 11-9 x 9 1 45 37 - 48 ScanSAR narrow 50 x 50 2 - 4 305 20 - 40 ScanSAR wide 100 x 100 4 - 8 510 20 - 49 Extended (H) 22-19 x 28 4 75 50 - 60 Extended (L) 63-28 x 28 4 170 10 - 23 1. Nominal; ground range resolution varies with range 2. Nominal; range and processor dependent 3. Incidence angle depends on sub-mode Date of launch: RADARSAT-1: November 4, 1995 RADARSAT-2: 2001 (expected) RAMP (RADARSAT Antarctic Mapping Project) AMM-1: South-looking. Created SAR mosaic of entire continent. AMM-2: North-looking. Will create velocity map of periphery. AMM-3: North-looking. Gap filling, clean-up. (RAMP DEM was based on laser altimetry and ground based surveys, and occurred prior to AMM-1.)