Commercial access - satellites and sensors

Satellite

Sensor

Sensor Type

Spectral Range (μm)

Spatial Resolution (m)

Revisit Time (day)

Swath Width (km)

Launch Time

Country

Imagery available on

Benefit technology

Limitation technology

Spatial Coverage for Northland (Y/N)

Time Period Available for Northland

GeoEye

GIS

VHR

0.45–0.92

0.41/1.65

3

15.2

2008.9

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Produces sharp, clear imagery with NIR band, useful historical archive depth.

Geo-referencing and orthorectification can be poor outside of populated areas, can require tasking given limited coverage outside of populated areas, expensive.

Y

08/09/ 2009 to date

World-View-1

WV1

VHR

0.4-0.9

0.5

6

17.6

2007.9

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Produces sharp, clear panchromatic imagery.

Geo-referencing and orthorectification can be poor outside of populated areas, can require tasking given limited coverage outside of populated areas, expensive, panchromatic only significantly limits utility.

Y (archive and tasking)

05/12/ 2007 to date

World-View-2

WV2

VHR

0.40-1.04

0.46/1.84

4

16.4

2009.10

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Produces very sharp, clear imagery, includes NIR band.

Geo-referencing and orthorectification can be poor outside of populated areas, can require tasking given limited coverage outside of populated areas, expensive.

Y (archive and tasking)

13/12/ 2009 to date

World-View-3

WV3

VHR

0.40-2.25 

0.31/1.24

5

13.1

2013.8

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Produces very sharp, clear imagery, full 8 band product has useful spectral ranges for landscape work, also available as 4 band product.

Y (archive and tasking)

15/10/ 2014 to date

SPOT 6

NAOMI

VHR

0.45–0.89

1.5/6

26

60

2012.9

France

AirBus GeoStore Harris Geo-spatial Intelliearth

Higher multispectral resolution than Sentinel-2, includes NIR band, archive back to 2012 over Northland.

Limited image availability and small footprint.

Y

23/10/ 2012 to date

SPOT 7

NAOMI

VHR

0.45–0.89

1.5/6

26

60

2014.6

Pleiades

-

VHR

0.40-0.95

0.5/2

1

20

2011.12

France

AirBus GeoStoreHarris Geo-spatial Intelliearth

High resolution, rapid revisit, includes NIR band, archive back to 2012 over Northland.

Limited image availability and small footprint.

Y

04/03/ 2012 to date

2012.12

Pleiades Neo

-

VHR

0.43-2.5
(Deep Blue to NIR with panchromatic)

0.3/1.2

<1

14

2021.04

France

Pending commercial availability (AirBus GeoStore)

Very high resolution, planned constellation should allow sub daily revisit, automatic DSM and possibility of DTM generation.

Recent launch means no back catalogue.

Y (Pending)

-

Planet SkySat

-

VHR

0.45-0.90

0.8/1

<1

<8

2013.11

USA

Planet Explorer

Produces extremely sharp imagery second only to aerial and drone capture < 1m multispectral (visible + NIR) resolution, launch of additional satellites results in sub-daily revisit.

Limited footprint, requires tasking, limited archive coverage of Northland.

Y

09/08/ 2018 to date

Planet-Scope Dove

PS2

Multispectral

0.45-0.86

3.7

<1

8

2014.2

USA

Planet Explorer

Large constellation means multiple captures per day possible, 4 band product useful for landscape monitoring tasks.

Radiometric correction can be poor between sensors making temporal comparison difficult, images can be blurrier than 3.7 GSD would suggest, small footprint means many scenes required to cover large areas.

Y

30/11/ 2015 to date

PS2.SD

0.46-0.89

3.7

<1

16

2019.4

Large constellation means multiple captures per day possible, 4 band product useful for landscape monitoring tasks, improved radiometry and footprint size.

Only recently released, mixed with imagery captured by legacy sensors.

Y

24/03/ 2019 to date

PSB.SD

0.43-0.89

3.7

<1

19.6

2019.12

Large constellation means multiple captures per day possible, 8 bands give much greater spectral resolution, improved radiometry and footprint size.

Only recently released, mixed with imagery captured by legacy sensors.

Y

18/03/ 2020 to date

Terra SAR-X

Radar

X-Band

1/1*2/3*3/16*16

Mode dependent

<5/5/10/30/100/270

2007.6

Germany

AirBus GeoStore

Commercial X-Band SAR constellation, offering radar data at very high resolution. Very high geometric accuracy and multiple angle perspectives from tandem satellites allows for highly accurate topographical mapping as well as interferometric data.

Requires specialised tools and knowledge to process and analyse.

Tasking

N/A

TanDEM-X

2010.6

Satellite

Sensor

Sensor Type

Spectral Range (μm)

Spatial Resolution (m)

Revisit Time (day)

Swath Width (km)

Launch Time

Country

Imagery available on

Benefit Technology

Limitation Technology

Spatial Coverage for Northland (Y/N)

Time Period Available for Northland

IKONOS-2

OSA

VHR

0.45–0.9

0.82/3.28

1–3

11.3

1999.9

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Early VHR satellite, produces sharp sub-meter imagery with NIR Band, useful historical archive depth.

Geo-referencing and ortho-rectification can be poor outside of populated areas, limited coverage over Northland.

Y

14/01/ 2000 to 02/10/ 2013

Quickbird

BGIS

VHR

0.45–0.9

0.61/2.44

1–6

16.5

2001.1

USA

MAXAR Secure Watch

Early VHR satellite, produces sharp sub-meter imagery with NIR Band, useful historical archive depth.

Geo-referencing and ortho-rectification can be poor outside of populated areas, limited coverage over Northland.

Y

10/11/ 2002 to 05/09/ 2013

RapidEye

MSI

VHR

0.40–0.85

5

1

77

2008.8

Germany, USA

Planet Explorer, Copernicus Open Data Hub

Combines multispectral high resolution capture with rapid revisit and wide swath, deep archive.

Made somewhat redundant post 2016 by 10m Sentinel-2.

Y

15/02/ 2010 to 17/03/ 2020