Commercial Datasets
The Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program evaluates and procures data from commercial vendors that advance NASA’s Earth science research and applications activities.
Currently, data acquired during the evaluations of Planet, Maxar (formerly DigitalGlobe, Inc.), and Spire Global are available. Data from the Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc., 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, RapidEye |
12/31/2005 - Present |
NASA (funded) researchers | Yes | No* | Planet Explorer | Yes | Planet EULA |
| SkySat | 3/10/2015 - 12/12/2019 |
SDX | No | |||||
| Spire | GNSS Radio Occulation | 9/24/2018 - 12/9/2018; 12/14/2018 - 3/8/2019; 11/1/2019 - onward |
NASA (funded) researchers | Yes |
No* | SDX | Yes |
Spire EULA |
| GNSS Grazing Angle Reflectometry | 1/09/2019 -4/18/2019; 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Satellite Precise Orbital Determination (POD) and Satellite Attitude | 9/24/2018 -4/18/2019; 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Total Electron Content | 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Ionospheric Profiles | 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Scintillation | 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Magnetometer | 11/1/2019 - onward |
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| Raw intermediate frequency | 6/17/2020; 6/20/2020; 6/21/2020; 9/8/2020 |
By request (PDF) | ||||||
| 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 |
* 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
A PlanetScope satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.
| Mission Characteristics | International Space Station Orbit | Sun-synchronous Orbit |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit Altitude (reference) | 400 km (51.6° inclination) | 475 km (-98° inclination) |
| Max/Min Latitude Coverage | +/- 52° (depending on season) | +/- 81.5° (depending on season) |
| Equator Crossing Time | Variable | 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 | 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 |
Blue: 455-515 nm Green: 500-590 nm Red: 590-670 nm NIR: 780-860 nm |
| Ground Sample Distance (nadir) | 3.0 m (approximate) | 3.5 m – 4 m depending on flock |
| Frame Size | 20 km x 12 km (approximate) | 24.6 km x 16.4 km (approximate) |
| Maximum Image Strip per Orbit | 8,100 km2 | 20,000 km2 |
| Revisit Time | Variable | Daily at nadir (early 2017) |
| Image Capture Capacity | Variable | 340 million km2/day |
| Camera Dynamic Range | 12-bit | 12-bit |
The RapidEye satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.
| 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 |
A SkySat satellite. Image courtesy of Planet.
| 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
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Launched | 88 (as of Oct 2019) |
| Form Factor | Cubesat |
| Dimensions | 10x10x34.5cm |
| Mass | < 5kg |
| Power | Deployable Solar |
| Altitude | 400-650 km |
| Orbit Inclination | Various: 83°, 51.6° (ISS), 37° |
| Lifespan | 2 years |
| Observables | GNSS-RO, GNSS-R, Satellite POD, Satellite Attitude, TEC, Ionospheric Profiles, Scintillation, Magnetometer |
| Built By | Spire |
Maxar (formerly Digital Globe)
Maxar (formerly Digital Globe)
The Worldview-4 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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 |
The Worldview-3 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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 | |
| 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 |
The Worldview-1 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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 | |
The Ikonos satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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) |
The GeoEye-1 satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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
The QuickBird satellite. Image courtesy of DigitalGlobe.
| 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
The DESIS satellite.
| 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: Jan 27, 2021 at 5:07 PM EST