339
What Satellites Have High-Resolution Sensors?
Spot Image, which serves as the distributor of SPOT imagery. The SPOT series
of satellites was developed by the French Space Agency, with the first (SPOT
1) being launched in 1986. The most recent satellite in the series is SPOT 5,
launched in 2002. SPOT 5 has a revisit cycle of 26 days but has off-nadir viewing capabilities that significantly improve some of its sensors’ temporal resolution. The highest spatial resolution of a SPOT 5 image is 2.5 meters, allowing a
significant amount of detail to be determined from a single image.
SPOT 5 carries three sensors:
a Vegetation-2: A sensor with a 1-kilometer spatial resolution, used for
broad-scale environmental monitoring.
a HRS (High Resolution Stereoscopic): A sensor with 10-meter resolution,
used for the development of stereo imagery (see Chapter 15) or digital
elevation models (see Chapter 13).
a HRG (High Resolution Geometric): A pair of sensors with multiple resolutions available—20-meter (an infrared band), 10-meter (multispectral sensor with green, red, near-infrared, and one other infrared band),
5-meter (panchromatic), and a 2.5-meter panchromatic Supermode.
Spot Image has announced SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 to be launched in the
near future with improved resolution capabilities (such as a 1.5-meter panchromatic spatial resolution). A related program is the PLEIADES series of
satellites, the first of which is projected to be launched in 2011. PLEIADES
will have very high-resolution panchromatic and multispectral capabilities.
Launched in 1999, the GeoEye Company’s (formerly SpaceImaging,
Inc.) IKONOS satellite imagery was one of the benchmarks of commercial
high-resolution imagery. The IKONOS satellite has two sensors, a four-band
(blue, green, red, and near-infrared) multispectral sensor that has 4-meter
spatial resolution and a panchromatic sensor with 1-meter spatial resolution.
Both sensors have very high radiometric resolution (11 bits) and due to offnadir viewing capabilities can achieve temporal resolution of about 3 days.
Panchromatic or pan-sharpened 1-meter imagery provides very crisp and detailed image resolution—details of urban environments can be distinguished
with little difficulty, although objects smaller than 1 meter square cannot have
details made out (see Figure 11.13 on page 340 for an example of IKONOS
imagery for the kind of spatial resolution this sensor can provide).
In 2001, another remote sensing company, DigitalGlobe, launched its
QuickBird satellite, whose sensors provided higher spatial resolution than
IKONOS. Like IKONOS, QuickBird featured two sensors—a four-band (blue,
green, red, and near-infrared) multispectral sensor with 2.4-meter spatial resolution and a panchromatic sensor with 0.61-meter spatial resolution. Both sensors feature very fine 11-bit radiometric resolution and with
off-nadir viewing capability have a temporal resolution between 1 and 3.5
days. 61-centimeter imagery provides extremely high-resolution capabilities,
allowing very crisp details to be observed in an image. In 2007, DigitalGlobe
launched WorldView-1, which featured an improved panchromatic sensor
PLEIADES a highresolution series of
satellites.
IKONOS a satellite
launched in 1999 by
SpaceImaging, Inc.
(now called GeoEye),
which features
multispectral spatial
resolution of 4 meters
and panchromatic
resolution of 1 meter.
QuickBird a satellite
launched in 2001
by the DigitalGlobe
company, whose
sensors have 2.4-meter
multispectral resolution
and 0.61-meter
panchromatic
resolution.
WorldView-1 a
satellite launched in
2007 by the Digital
Globe company, whose
panchromatic sensor
has 0.5-meter spatial
resolution.
What Satellites Have High-Resolution Sensors?
Spot Image, which serves as the distributor of SPOT imagery. The SPOT series
of satellites was developed by the French Space Agency, with the first (SPOT
1) being launched in 1986. The most recent satellite in the series is SPOT 5,
launched in 2002. SPOT 5 has a revisit cycle of 26 days but has off-nadir viewing capabilities that significantly improve some of its sensors’ temporal resolution. The highest spatial resolution of a SPOT 5 image is 2.5 meters, allowing a
significant amount of detail to be determined from a single image.
SPOT 5 carries three sensors:
a Vegetation-2: A sensor with a 1-kilometer spatial resolution, used for
broad-scale environmental monitoring.
a HRS (High Resolution Stereoscopic): A sensor with 10-meter resolution,
used for the development of stereo imagery (see Chapter 15) or digital
elevation models (see Chapter 13).
a HRG (High Resolution Geometric): A pair of sensors with multiple resolutions available—20-meter (an infrared band), 10-meter (multispectral sensor with green, red, near-infrared, and one other infrared band),
5-meter (panchromatic), and a 2.5-meter panchromatic Supermode.
Spot Image has announced SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 to be launched in the
near future with improved resolution capabilities (such as a 1.5-meter panchromatic spatial resolution). A related program is the PLEIADES series of
satellites, the first of which is projected to be launched in 2011. PLEIADES
will have very high-resolution panchromatic and multispectral capabilities.
Launched in 1999, the GeoEye Company’s (formerly SpaceImaging,
Inc.) IKONOS satellite imagery was one of the benchmarks of commercial
high-resolution imagery. The IKONOS satellite has two sensors, a four-band
(blue, green, red, and near-infrared) multispectral sensor that has 4-meter
spatial resolution and a panchromatic sensor with 1-meter spatial resolution.
Both sensors have very high radiometric resolution (11 bits) and due to offnadir viewing capabilities can achieve temporal resolution of about 3 days.
Panchromatic or pan-sharpened 1-meter imagery provides very crisp and detailed image resolution—details of urban environments can be distinguished
with little difficulty, although objects smaller than 1 meter square cannot have
details made out (see Figure 11.13 on page 340 for an example of IKONOS
imagery for the kind of spatial resolution this sensor can provide).
In 2001, another remote sensing company, DigitalGlobe, launched its
QuickBird satellite, whose sensors provided higher spatial resolution than
IKONOS. Like IKONOS, QuickBird featured two sensors—a four-band (blue,
green, red, and near-infrared) multispectral sensor with 2.4-meter spatial resolution and a panchromatic sensor with 0.61-meter spatial resolution. Both sensors feature very fine 11-bit radiometric resolution and with
off-nadir viewing capability have a temporal resolution between 1 and 3.5
days. 61-centimeter imagery provides extremely high-resolution capabilities,
allowing very crisp details to be observed in an image. In 2007, DigitalGlobe
launched WorldView-1, which featured an improved panchromatic sensor
PLEIADES a highresolution series of
satellites.
IKONOS a satellite
launched in 1999 by
SpaceImaging, Inc.
(now called GeoEye),
which features
multispectral spatial
resolution of 4 meters
and panchromatic
resolution of 1 meter.
QuickBird a satellite
launched in 2001
by the DigitalGlobe
company, whose
sensors have 2.4-meter
multispectral resolution
and 0.61-meter
panchromatic
resolution.
WorldView-1 a
satellite launched in
2007 by the Digital
Globe company, whose
panchromatic sensor
has 0.5-meter spatial
resolution.