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Commercial Datasets

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NEW! Spire Sea Ice and Altimetry products derived from GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry products are now available by request.

NASA's Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program evaluates and procures data from commercial vendors that advance NASA’s Earth science research and applications activities.

Currently, all CSDA data acquired from Planet, Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe), and Spire Global Subsidiary, Inc., are available to government users. An initial release of a subset of the EarthDEM products, developed by the Polar Geospatial Center, is also available. Data from the Teledyne Brown Engineering DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) also are available through a separate collaboration with the International Space Station (ISS). See the table below to learn how to access vendor-specific data. All data products are available through CSDA at no cost to authorized researchers and are subject to scientific use licenses.

The commercial data currently distributed by NASA are available under different scientific use licenses and various access portals. Please see table below for data access portals and vendor-specific end user license agreement (EULA) information. Check back for updates on new data acquisitions.

Data and End User License Agreements

Vendor Data Available Date Range Who is authorized to use the data Scientific use only 3rd party publication requires permission Where to get archived data Can PIs submit new orders EULA
Planet PlanetScope 6/29/2014
- Present		 U.S. Federal civil agencies; NSF (funded) researchers. Yes No* Planet Explorer Yes Planet Expanded EULA
RapidEye 02/1/2009
- 12/31/2019
SkySat 3/10/2015
- 12/12/2019		 SDX No
Spire GNSS Radio Occultation 9/24/2018 - 12/9/2018;
12/14/2018 - 3/8/2019; 11/1/2019 - onward		 U.S. Government (funded) researchers

Yes

 No* SDX

Yes

 Spire USG EULA
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry 1/09/2019
-4/18/2019; 11/1/2019 - onward
Satellite Precise Orbital Determination (POD) and Satellite Attitude 9/24/2018
-4/18/2019; 11/1/2019
- onward
Total Electron Content 11/1/2019
- onward
Ionospheric Profiles 11/1/2019
- onward
Scintillation 11/1/2019
- onward
Magnetometer 11/1/2019
- onward		 Request authorization
Raw intermediate frequency 6/17/2020;
6/20/2020;
6/21/2020;
9/8/2020		 By request (PDF)
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry Sea Ice Product 03/01/2020 - onward SDX
GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry Altimetry Product 06/16/2020 - onward SDX
Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe) WorldView 1 09/18/2007-present NASA (funded) researchers Yes Yes CAD4NASA Yes NextView License
WorldView 2 10/08/2009-present
WorldView 3 08/13/2014-present
GeoEye-1 09/06/2008-present
QuickBird 10/18/2001-01/27/2015
IKONOS 10/24/1999-03/31/2015
WorldView 4 12/01/2016
- 1/07/2019		 MAXAR EULA
Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. DESIS 11/21/2018
-
Present		 U.S. Government (funded) researchers Yes No* TCloudHost Yes DESIS EULA
Polar Geospatial Center EarthDEM U.S. Government (funded) researchers Yes No SDX Yes NextView License

* Principal Investigators should submit publications as a courtesy copy to the vendor.

All data requests must be approved by CSDA data managers. Contact us to provide your name, email address, and pertinent information (grant number, contract number, etc.) to indicate that you are authorized to use the data. The CSDA team will verify if the user is authorized for data access first. Once verified, the user will be provided with additional information on how to request and access data. 

Get answers to frequently asked questions about accessing and requesting commercial data.

The tables below list available satellites, their orbits, and their sensors' temporal and spectral resolutions.

Planet

Planet
Logo of the commercial satellite company Planet

Planet has successfully launched nearly 300 satellites to space and currently operates approximately 150 Dove satellites, and 13 SkySat satellites. Planet downlinks more than 300 million km2 of imagery daily.

Photo of Planet's Planetscope satellite.

A PlanetScope satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.

PlanetScope/Dove Satellite Constellation and Sensor Characteristics
Mission Characteristics International Space Station Orbit
Orbit Altitude (reference) 400 km (51.6° inclination)
Max/Min Latitude Coverage +/- 52° (depending on season)
Equator Crossing Time Variable
Sensor Type Three-band frame Imager or four-band frame Imager with a split-frame NIR filter
Spectral Bands Blue: 455-515 nm
Green: 500-590 nm
Red: 590-670 nm
NIR: 780-860 nm
Ground Sample Distance (nadir) 3.0 m (approximate)
Frame Size 20 km x 12 km (approximate)
Maximum Image Strip per Orbit 8,100 km2
Revisit Time Variable
Image Capture Capacity Variable
Camera Dynamic Range 12-bit
PlanetScope/Dove in Sun-Synchronus Orbit
Mission Characteristics Dove Classic (PS2) Dove-R (PS2.SD) SuperDove (PSB.SD)
Orbit Altitude (reference) 450–580 km
Inclination ~98°
Max/Min Latitude Coverage ±81.5° (depending on season)
Equator Crossing Time 9:30-11:30 am (local solar time)
Sensor Type Three-band frame Imager or four-band frame Imager with a split-frame NIR filter Four-band frame imager
with butcher-block filter		 Eight-band frame imager
with butcher-block filter
Spectral Bands Blue: 455-515 nm
Green: 500-590 nm
Red: 590-670 nm
NIR: 780-860 nm		 Blue: 464-517 nm
Green: 547-585 nm
Red: 650-682 nm
NIR: 846-888 nm		 Coastal Blue 431-452 nm
Blue: 465-515 nm
Green I: 513-549 nm
Green II: 547- 583 nm
Yellow: 600-620 nm
Red: 650-680 nm
Red-Edge: 697-713 nm
NIR: 845-885 nm
Ground Sample Distance (nadir) 3.7 m (approximate)
Frame Size 24 km x 8 km (approximate) 24 km x 16 km (approximate) 32.5 km x 19.6 km (approximate)
Maximum Image Strip per Orbit 20,000 km2
Revisit Time Near-daily at nadir
Image Capture Capacity ~350 million km2/day
Camera Dynamic Range 12-bit
Photo of Planet's RapidEye satellite.

The RapidEye satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.

RapidEye Satellite Constellation and Sensor Characteristics
Mission Characteristics Information
Number of Satellites 1
Orbit Altitude 630 km in Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Equator Crossing Time 11:00 am local time (approximately)
Sensor Type Multispectral push broom
Spectral Bands Blue: 440 – 510 nm
Green: 520 – 590 nm
Red: 630 – 685 nm
Red Edge: 690 – 730 nm
NIR: 760 – 850 nm
Ground Sampling Distance (nadir) 6.5 m
Swath Width 77 km
Maximum Image Strip per Orbit Up to 1500 km of image data per orbit
Revisit Time Daily (off-nadir) / 5.5 days (at nadir)
Image Capture Capacity > 6 million km2/day
Camera Dynamic Range 12-bit
Photo of the Planet SkySat Satellite constellation.

A SkySat satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.

SkySat Satellite Constellation and Sensor Characteristics
Attribute Value
Mass 110 kg
Dimensions 60 x 60 x 95 cm
Total DeltaV 180 m/s
Onboard Storage 360 GB + 360 GB cold spare storage
RF Communication X-band downlink (payload): variable, up to 580 Mbit/s
X-band downlink (telemetry): 64 Kbit/s
S-band uplink (command): 32 Kbit/s
Design Life ~6 years
Geolocation Knowledge 30 m CE90 in a 500 km altitude orbit
Ground Sample Distance [SkySat-1, SkySat-2]
Panchromatic: 0.86 m
Multispectral: 10 m
[SkySat-3 – SkySat-13]
Panchromatic: 0.72 m
Multispectral: 1.0 m 2.3 targets (6.6 x 10 km) per minute
Revisit (per satellite) 4-5 days
*Reference altitude 500 km
Equatorial Crossing (UTC) 10:30 – Current C-Gen satellites
13:00 – SkySat-1 and SkySat-2
13:00 – Block-2 C-Gen satellites
Image Configurations Multispectral Sensor (Blue, Green, Red, NIR)
Panchromatic Sensor
Product Framing SkySat Satellites have three cameras per satellite, which capture
overlapping strips. Each of these strips contain overlapping scenes.
One scene is approximately 2560 x 1080 pixels
Sensor Type CMOS Frame Camera with Panchromatic and Multispectral halves
Spectral Bands Blue: 450 – 515 nm
Green: 515 – 595 nm
Red: 605 – 695 nm
NIR: 740 – 900 nm
Pan: 450 – 900 nm

Spire

Spire
Logo of the small satellite company Spire.

Spire designs, builds, and operates a growing constellation of over 120 3U Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver (LEMUR) satellites tasked with collecting Radio Frequency (RF) signals from low Earth orbit. The company offers a suite of commercial RF sensing products, including a catalog of atmosphere, ionosphere, and weather data services derived from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals collection.

The Spire-designed STRATOS payload collects these GNSS signals from which Spire can derive useful Earth Observation data types for climate and space weather research, among other applications. To support their mission, the company owns and operates over 30 ground stations and a robust data pipeline for quickly and securely moving data from orbit to cloud.

Spire Lemur Constellation

Spire LEMUR 3U Satellite. Image courtesy of Spire.

Spire LEMUR Constellation and Sensor Characteristics
Parameter Value
Design life 3 years
Built by Spire
Volume 100 x 100 x 340.5 mm (3U)
100 x 226.3 x 340.5 mm (6U)
Total Mass Up to 6kg (3U) or 12kg (6U)
ADCS 3-axis stabilized, agile and precise
Orbit Average Power Usage 8-12 Watts, 35 Watts Peak
Transmitters UHF: 400-450 MHz, 9600 baud
S-band: 2.20GHz, 1Mbit
X-band: 8.2GHz, 40Mbit
Receivers UHF: 400-450 MHz, 9600 baud
S-Band: 2.032GHz, 1Mbit
Orbit Inclination Various: 83°, 51.6° (ISS), 37°, Equatorial, Polar - Sun Synchronous
A diagram of Spire satellite orbits

This diagram shows the orbit breakdown for all satellites in Spire's constellation, including those for the GNSS-RO and GNSS-R satellites providing Earth Observation data to NASA.
Payloads
  • Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver
  • STRATOS GNSS radio occultation (RO) & precise orbit determination (POD)
    • POD antenna: zenith, L1/L2 RHCP
    • High-gain RO antennas: fore/aft, L1/L2 RHCP
    • Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)
Observables
  • GNSS Radio Occultation
    (L0-L2 atmos. prf)
  • Grazing Angle GNSS-R
    (L0-L2 sea ice type & altimetry)
  • Conventional GNSS-R
    (L0-L2 soil moisture, ocean winds & MSS) (under evaluation)
  • Raw IF captures (GNSS-R)
  • Precise Orbit Determination
    (L0-L1)
  • Space Weather (TEC, EDP, Scintillation) (L0-L2)
  • Magnetometer (simple sensor data) (L0)
Spire GNSS Earth Observation Satellites
Spire GNSS-RO satellites
Spire GNSS RO satellite

Spire GNSS-RO satellite. Image courtesy of Spire.

 3U form factor
  • Moderate gain, dual antennas (rising/setting RO)
  • Multi-GNSS signals tracked
  • Rapid on-orbit innovation
Spire GNSS-R satellites (Batch 1)
Spire GNSS-R Batch 1 satellite

Spire GNSS-R (Batch 1) satellite. Image courtesy of Spire.

 3U form factor
  • Dual nadir antennas
  • Multi-GNSS signals tracked
  • 30 simultaneous reflections
  • First launched DEC 2019
Spire GNSS-R satellites (Batch 2)
Spire GNSS-R Batch 2 satellite

Spire GNSS-R (Batch 2) satellite. Image courtesy of Spire.

 3U form factor
  • Triple GNSS-R antennas
  • Multi-GNSS signals tracked
  • 45 simultaneous reflections
  • Advanced calibration
  • First launched JAN 2021

Maxar (formerly Digital Globe)

Maxar (formerly Digital Globe)
Logo for the small satellite company Maxar, formerly DigitalGlobe.

The Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe) constellation of high-resolution satellites offers unrivaled accuracy, agility, and collection capacity, imaging more of the world in the finest level of detail. The company’s active constellation includes WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3, and GeoEye-1, and archive imagery dating back to 1999 is available from its QuickBird, IKONOS, and WorldView-4 satellites. The Maxar constellation offers a unique catalog of data products that are directly related to and/or can lead to Essential Climate Variables (ECVs).

Photo of the DigitalGlobe Worldview-4 satellite.

The Worldview-4 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe Worldview-4 Specifications
Attribute Value
Orbit Altitude: 617 km
Type: Sun Synchronous, 10:30 am descending Node
Period: 97 min.
Life Estimated service life: 10 to 12 years
Spacecraft size and aperture Size: 5.3 m (17.7 ft) tall x 2.5 m (8 ft) across
7.9 m (26 ft) across deployed solar arrays
Aperture: 1.1m
Sensor bands Panchromatic: 450 - 800 nm
4 Multispectral:
Red: 655 - 690 nm
Green: 510 - 580 nm
Blue: 450 - 510 nm
Near-IR: 780 - 920 nm
Sensor resolution
(or GSD, ground sample distance;
off-nadir is geometric mean)		 Panchromatic Nadir: 0.31 m
20° Off-Nadir: 0.34 m
56° Off-Nadir: 1.00 m
Multispectral Nadir: 1.24 m
20° Off-Nadir: 1.38 m
56° Off-Nadir: 4.00 m
Dynamic range 11-bits per pixel
Swath width At nadir: 13.2 km
Attitude determination and control Type: 3-axis Stabilized
Actuators: Control Moment Gyros (CMGs)
Sensors: Star trackers, precision IRU, GPS
Pointing accuracy and knowledge Accuracy: 170 m at 40 off-nadir
Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below
Retargeting agility Time to Slew 200 km: 10.6 sec
Onboard storage 3200 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications Image & ancillary data: 800 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: 120 kbps real time, X-band
Command: 64 kbps S-band
Max contiguous area collected in a
single pass (30° off-nadir angle)		 Mono: 66.5 km x 112 km (5 strips)
Stereo: 26.6 km x 112 km (2 pairs)
Revisit frequency
(at 40°N latitude)		 1 m GSD: < 1.0 day
Total constellation > 4.5 accesses/day
Geolocation accuracy
(CE90)		 Predicted < 5 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity 680,000 sq km per day
Photo of the DigitalGlobe Worldview-3 satellite.

The Worldview-3 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe Worldview-3 Specifications
Attribute Value
Orbit Altitude: 617 km
Type: Sun synchronous, 10:30 am descending node
Period: 97 min.
Life Spec Mission Life: 7.25 years
Estimated service life: 10 to 12 years
Spacecraft size, mass and power Size: 5.7 m (18.7 ft) tall x 2.5 m (8 ft) across 7.1 m (23 ft) across deployed solar arrays
Mass: 2800 kg (6200 lbs)
Power: 3.1 kW solar array, 100 Ahr battery
Sensor Bands Panchromatic: 450–800 nm
8 Multispectral:
Coastal: 397–454 nm
Blue: 445–517 nm
Blue: 445–517 nm
Green: 507–586 nm
Yellow: 580–629 nm		 Red: 626–696 nm
Red Edge: 698–749 nm
Near-IR1: 765–899 nm
Near-IR2: 857–1039 nm
8 SWIR Bands:
SWIR-1: 1184–1235 nm
SWIR-2: 1546–1598 nm
SWIR-3: 1636–1686 nm
SWIR-4: 1702–1759 nm
SWIR-5: 2137–2191 nm
SWIR-6: 2174–2232 nm
SWIR-7: 2228–2292 nm
SWIR-8: 2285–2373 nm
12 CAVIS Bands:
Desert Clouds: 405–420 nm
Water-3: 930–965 nm
Aerosol-1: 459–509 nm
Green: 525–585 nm
Aerosol-2: 635–685 nm
Water-1: 845–885 nm
Water-2: 897–927 nm
NDVI-SWIR: 1220–1252 nm
Cirrus: 1365–1405 nm
Snow: 1620–1680 nm
Aerosol-1: 2105–2245 nm
Aerosol-2: 2105–2245 nm
Sensor resolution (or GSD, Ground Sample Distance; off-nadir is geometric mean) Panchromatic nadir: 0.31 m
20° off-nadir: 0.34 m
Multispectral nadir: 1.24 m
20° off-nadir: 1.38 m		 SWIR nadir: 3.70 m
20° off-nadir: 4.10 m
CAVIS nadir: 30.00 m
Dynamic range 11-bits per pixel Pan and MS; 14-bits per pixel SWIR
Swath width At nadir: 13.1 km
Attitude determination and control Type: 3-axis Stabilized
Actuators: Control Moment Gyros (CMGs)
Sensors: Star trackers, precision IRU, GPS
Pointing accuracy and knowledge Accuracy: <500 m at image start/stop
Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below
Retargeting agility Time to Slew 200 km: 12 sec
Onboard storage 2199 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications Image & Ancillary Data: 800 and 1200 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: 4, 16, 32, or 64 kbps real time, 524 kbps stored, X-band
Command: 2 or 64 kbps S-band
Max contiguous area collected in a single pass (30° off-nadir angle) Mono: 66.5 km x 112 km (5 strips)
Stereo: 26.6 km x 112 km (2 pairs)
Revisit frequency 1 m GSD: <1.0 day
(at 40°N Latitude) 4.5 days at 20° off-nadir or less
Geolocation accuracy (CE90) Predicted <3.5 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity 680,000 sq km per day
Photo of the DigitalGlobe Worldview-3 satellite.
The Worldview-2 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
DigitalGlobe Worldview-2 Specifications
Attribute Value
Orbit Altitude: 770 km
Type: Sun synchronous, 10:30 am descending node
Period: 100 min.
Mission Life 10-12 years, including all consumables and degradables (e.g. propellant)
Spacecraft Size, Mass and Power 5.7 m (18.7 ft) tall x 2.5 m (8 ft) across
7.1 m (23 ft) across the deployed solar arrays
2615 kg (5765 lbs)
3.2 kW solar array, 100 Ahr battery
Sensor Bands Panchromatic: 450 - 800 nm
8 Multispectral:
Coastal: 400 - 450 nm Red: 630 -690 nm
Blue: 450 - 510 nm Red Edge: 705 - 745 nm
Green: 510 - 580 nm Near-IR1: 770 - 895 nm
Yellow: 585 - 625 nm Near-IR2: 860 - 1040 nm
Sensor Resolution Panchromatic: 0.46 m GSD at nadir, 0.52 m GSD at 20° off-nadir
Multispectral: 1.85 m GSD at nadir, 2.07 m GSD at 20° off-nadir
Dynamic Range 11-bits per pixel
Swath Width 16.4 km at nadir
Attitude Determination and Control 3-axis stabilized
Actuators: Control Moment Gyros (CMGs)
Sensors: Star trackers, solid state IRU, GPS
Pointing Accuracy and Knowledge Accuracy: < 500 m at image start and stop
Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below
Retargeting Agility Time to Slew 200 km: 10 sec
Onboard Storage 2199 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications Image and Ancillary Data: 800 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: 4, 16 or 32 kbps real-time, 524 kbps stored, X-band
Command: 2 or 64 kbps S-band
Max Contiguous Area Collected in a Single Pass
(30° off-nadir angle)		 Mono: 138 x 112 km (8 strips)
Stereo: 63 x 112 km (4 pairs)
Revisit Frequency (at 40°N Latitude) 1.1 days at 1 m GSD or less
3.7 days at 20° off-nadir or less (0.52 m GSD)
Geolocation Accuracy (CE90) Demonstrated < 3.5 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity 1 million km2 per day
Photo of the DigitalGlobe Worldview-1 satellite.

The Worldview-1 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe Worldview-1 Specifications
Attribute Value
Orbit Altitude: 496 km
Type: Sun synchronous, 10:30 am descending node
Period: 95 min.		 Altitude: 496 km
Type: Sun Synchronous. 1:30 pm descending node
Period: 95 min.
Mission Life 10-12 years, including all consumables and degradables (e.g. propellant)
Spacecraft Size, Mass and Power 3.6 m (12 ft) tall x 2.5 m (8 ft) across
7.1 m (23 ft) across the deployed solar arrays
2290 kg (5038 lbs)
3.2 kW solar array, 100 Ahr battery
Sensor Bands Panchromatic: 400 - 900 nm
Sensor Resolution 50 cm Ground Sample Distance (GSD) at nadir
55 cm GSD at 20° off-nadir
Dynamic Range 11-bits per pixel
Swath Width 17.7 km at nadir
Attitude Determination and Control 3-axis stabilized
Actuators: Control Moment Gyros (CMGs)
Sensors: Star trackers, solid state IRU, GPS
Pointing Accuracy and Knowledge Accuracy: <500 m at image start and stop
Knowledge: Supports geolocation accuracy below
Retargeting Agility Time to Slew 200 km: 10 sec
Onboard Storage 2199 Gb solid state with EDAC
Communications Image and Ancillary Data: 800 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: 4, 16 or 32 kbps real-time, 524 kbps stored, X-band
Command: 2 or 64 kbps S-band
Max Contiguous Area Collected in a Single Pass Mono: 111 x 112 km (6 strips)
(30° off-nadir angle) Stereo: 51 x 112 km (3 pairs)
Revisit Frequency 1.7 days at 1 m GSD or less
(at 40°N Latitude) 5.4 days at 20° off-nadir or less (0.55 m GSD)
Geolocation Accuracy (CE90) Demonstrated <4.0 m CE90 without ground control
Capacity 1.3 million km2 per day
Photo of DigitalGlobe, the small satellite company's Ikonos satellite.

The Ikonos satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe Ikonos Specifications
Attribute Value
Launch information Date: September 24, 1999
Launch vehicle: Athena 2
Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Mission life 12+ years
Spacecraft size 1.83 m × 1.57 m (hexagonal configuration)
Spatial resolution Panchromatic: 0.82 m
Multispectral: 3.2 m
Positional accuracy 15 meter CE90 (specification)
9 meter CE90 (measured)
Swath width 11.3 km
Off-nadir imaging Up to 60 degrees
Dynamic range 11 bits per pixel
Revisit time Approximately 3 days
Orbital altitude 681 km
Nodal crossing 10:30am
Collection capacity 240,000 km2/day (Pan + MSI)
Photo of the small satellite company DigitalGlobe's GeoEye-1 satellite.

The GeoEye-1 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe GeoEye-1 Specifications
Attribute Value
Mission Life Expected >10 years
Spacecraft Size 4186 lbs, 4.34 m in length
Altitude 681 km
Orbit Type: Sun-synchronous,
10:30 am descending node
Period: 98 min
Sensor Resolution and Spectral Bandwidth Panchromatic:
41 cm GSD at nadir
Black & White: 450 - 800 nm
Multispectral:
1.65 m GSD at nadir
Blue: 450 - 510 nm
Green: 510 - 580 nm
Red: 655 - 690 nm
Near-IR: 780 - 920 nm
Dynamic Range 11-bits per pixel
Swath Width Nominal Swath Width:
15.3 km at nadir
Attitude Determination and Control Type: 3-axis Stabilized
Star tracker/IRU/reaction wheels, GPS
Retargeting Agility Time to slew 200 km: 20 sec
Onboard Storage 1 Tbit capacity
Communications Payload Data: X-band 740/150 Mbps AES/DES encryption >
Housekeeping: X-band 64 kbps AES encryption
Revisit Frequency
(at 40°N Latitude)		 2.6 days at 30° off-nadir
Metric Accuracy 5 m CE90, 3 m CE90 (measured)
Capacity 350,000 km2/day Multi-spectral

IMAGE

Photo of DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite.

The QuickBird satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.

DigitalGlobe QuickBird Specifications
Attribute Value
Launch Information Date: October 18, 2001
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Site: SLC-2W, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Mission Life Extended through early 2014
Spacecraft size 2400 lbs, 3.04 m (10 ft) in length
Model Altitude 400 km Altitude 450 km
Orbit Type: Sun Synchronous, 10:00 am descending node
Period: 92.4 min.		 10:25 am descending node
Period: 93.6 min
Sensor Resolution and spectral bandwidth Panchromatic:
55 cm GSD at nadir
Black & White: 405 - 1053 nm
Multispectral:
2.16 m GSD at nadir
Blue: 430 – 545 nm
Green: 466 – 620 nm
Red: 590 – 710 nm
Near-IR: 715 – 918 nm		 Panchromatic
61 cm GSD at nadir
Multispectral:
2.44 m GSD at nadir
Dynamic range 11 bits per pixel 11 bits per pixel
Swath width Nominal Swath Width:
14.9 km at nadir
 Nominal swath width:
16.8 km at nadir
Attitude determination and control Type: 3-axis Stabilized
Star tracker/IRU/reaction wheels, GPS
 Type: 3-axis Stabilized
Star tracker/IRU/reaction wheels, GPS
Retargeting agility Time to slew 200 km: 37 sec 38 sec
Onboard Storage 128 Gb capacity 128 Gb capacity
Communications Payload Data: 320 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: X-band from 4, 16 and 256 Kbps, 2 Kbps S-band uplink		 Payload Data: 320 Mbps X-band
Housekeeping: X-band from 4, 16 and 256 Kbps, 2 Kbps S-band uplink
Revisit Frequency (at 40oN Latitude) Revisit time may vary from 2 to 12 days depending on target location as the orbit decays. Revisit time may vary from 2 to 12 days depending on target location as the orbit decays.
Metric accuracy 23 m CE90, 17 m LE90 (without ground control) 23 m CE90, 17 m LE90 (without ground control)
Capacity 200,000 sq km per day 200,000 sq km per day

Teledyne Brown Engineering

Teledyne Brown Engineering
Photo of the Desis small cube satellite.

The DESIS satellite.

The DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) is a pushbroom, hyperspectral sensor currently operating in the Multi-User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES) platform on the International Space Station (ISS). DESIS was developed and built by DLR and is operated commercially by Teledyne Brown Engineering. DESIS was launched on June 29, 2018, and achieved initial operating capability on November 21, 2018.

DESIS Performance Specifications
Parameter DESIS values (Commissioning Phase)
Orbit (type, local time at equator, inclination, altitude, period, repeat cycle) not Sun-synchronous, various, 51.6°, 405 ± 5 km, 93 min, no repeat cycle
Coverage 55° N to 52° S
Tilt (across-track, along-track) -45° to +5°, -40° to +40° by MUSES and DESIS
Sensor pointing ±15° along-track to enable BRDF or Stereo acquisitions
Spectral coverage 402 nm to 1000 nm
Number of spectral channels 235 (no binning) ~2.5nm
118 (binning 2)
79 (binning 3)
60 (binning 4) ~10nm, this product will be available June 2019
Defective spectral channels (see footnote 2 below for description and location) Bands 1 – 7 (no binning)
Bands 1 – 4 (binning 2)
Bands 1 – 3 (binning 3)
Bands 1 – 2 (binning 4)
Spectral sampling resolution 2.55 nm (w/o binning); ~10.2 nm (binning 4)
Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) ~3.5 nm (w/o binning); ~10.0 nm (binning 4)
Radiometric resolution 12 bits + 1 bit gain
Radiometric accuracy +/-10% (based on on-ground calibration and with the support of inflight radiometric calibration)
Radiometric linearity 99%
Swath 30 km
Spatial resolution, pixels 30 m, 1024 pixels (@400 km)
Geometric accuracy ~20 m with GCPs1
~300 m - 400 m w/o GCPs
MTF @ Nyquist 30%-40% based on on-ground calibration / static MTF without smearing effects / wavelength depending
Signal-to-Noise ratio (albedo 0.3 @ 550 nm) 195 (w/o binning)
386 (4 binning)
(based on on-ground calibration)
Dark/Read noise (electrons) 30-60e- (global shutter)
15-30e- (rolling shutter)
Quantum scale equivalent (e-/DN) 0.04 e-/DN
Max frame rate 235Hz (@235 spectral lines, rolling shutter)
117Hz (@235 spectral lines, global shutter)
Solar zenith angle restrictions
(for L2A level processing)
 > 55° produces reduced quality L2A product
> 65° produces low quality L2A product
> 70° not processable to L2A

1 with respect to global reference Landsat ETM+ PAN with GSD 14 m.

Page Last Updated: May 13, 2022 at 9:57 AM EDT