The document provides information on several remote sensing satellites including Landsat 7 and 8, SPOT 6 and 7, Worldview-2 and 3, GeoEye-1, ASTER, Sentinel-2A, Pleiades Neo 4, ZY-3, GF-5 and 6, and EgyptSat A. It describes each satellite's launch date, orbital parameters, spectral bands, spatial and temporal resolution, and main applications which include mapping, monitoring agriculture and environment, disaster management, and resource exploration.

1. REMOTE SENSING
REPORT ON LECTURE 7
OPERATING SATELLITES
BY
AHMED YASSER AHMED MOHAMED NASSAR
SECTION: 1

2. Page 1 of 23
Landsat 7
Lifetime span
(Lunch time)
Still operational
April 15, 1999
Orbit
Altitude
705 km
Spatial
resolution
15 x 15 (Pan)
30 x 30
60 x 60 (TIR)
Swath width 185 km
Spectral
Bands
(Sensors)
Band 1: 0.45-0.52µm (blue)
Band 2: 0.52-0.60µm (green).
Band 3: 0.63-0.69m (red).
Band 4: 0.76-0.90m (reflective infrared).
Band 5: 1.55-1.75m (mid-infrared)
Band 6: 10.4-12.5m (thermal infrared)
Band 7: 2.08-2.35m (mid-infrared)
Revisit
Frequency
16 days
Applications • Bathymetric mapping, distinguishing soil
from vegetation and deciduous from
coniferous vegetation.
• Emphasizes peak vegetation, which is useful
for assessing plant vigor.
• Discriminates vegetation slopes.
• Emphasizes biomass content and shorelines.

3. Page 2 of 23
• Discriminates moisture content of soil and
vegetation penetrates thin clouds.
• Thermal mapping and estimated soil
moisture.
• Hydrothermally altered rocks associated
with mineral deposits.

4. Page 3 of 23
Landsat 8
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
2013.2.12
Orbit
Altitude
705 km
Spatial
resolution
Band 1 Coastal 30 m
Band 2 Blue 30 m
Band 3 Green 30 m
Band 4 Red 30 m
Band 5 NIR 30 m
Band 6 SWIR 1 30 m
Band 7 SWIR 2 30 m
Band 8 Pan 15 m
Band 9 Cirrus 30 m
Band 10 TIRS 1 30 (100) m
Band 11 TIRS 2 30 (100) m
Swath width 185 kilometers
Spectral
Bands
Panchromatic: 0.50 to less than 0.68
Purple: 0.43-0.45
Blue: 0.45-0.52
Green: 0.53-0.60
Red: 0.63-0.68
Near IR: 0.85–0.89
IR: 1.36-1.39, 1.56-1.66, 2.10-2.30
Thermal IR: 10.40-12.50

5. Page 4 of 23
Revisit
Frequency
16-day repeat cycle
Applications • coastal and aerosol studies
• Bathymetric mapping, distinguishing soil
from vegetation and deciduous from
coniferous vegetation
• Emphasizes peak vegetation, which is
useful for assessing plant vigor
• Discriminates vegetation slopes
• Emphasizes biomass content and
shorelines
• Discriminates moisture content of soil and
vegetation
• penetrates thin clouds
• improved moisture content of soil and
vegetation and thin cloud penetration
• improved detection of cirrus cloud
contamination
• 100-meter resolution, thermal mapping
and estimated
• soil moisture, improved thermal mapping
and estimated soil moisture

6. Page 5 of 23
Spot 6
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
September 9, 2012
10 years
Orbit
Altitude
694 km
Spatial
resolution
up to 1.5 m spatial resolution Panchromatic
and Multispectral
Swath width 60 km
Spectral
Bands
PAN0.45-0.75 µm
Blue0.45-0.52 µm
Green 0.53-060 µm
Red 0.62-0.69 µm
NIR (Near Infrared) 0.76-0.89 µm
Revisit
Frequency
• 1 day with SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 operating
simultaneously
• between 1 and 3 days with only one
satellite
Applications civil and military mapping, natural and man-
made disaster management, natural
resource exploration, land planning, crop
and forestry monitoring, environmental
protection, and maritime surveillance

7. Page 6 of 23
Spot 7
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
Q1 2014
10 years
Orbit
Altitude
694 km
Spatial
resolution
up to 1.5 m spatial resolution Panchromatic
and Multispectral
Swath
width
60km
Spectral
Bands
• PAN 0.45-0.75 µm
• Blue 0.45-0.52 µm
• Green 0.53-060 µm
• Red 0.62-0.69 µm
• NIR (Near Infrared) 0.76-0.89 µm
Revisit
Frequency
• 1 day with SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 operating
simultaneously
• between 1 and 3 days with only one
satellite
Applications • civil and military mapping,
• natural and man-made disaster
management,
• natural resource exploration,
• land planning,
• crop and forestry monitoring,
• environmental protection,
• and maritime surveillance

8. Page 7 of 23
Worldview-2
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
Date: Anticipated October 2009
7.25 years
Orbit
Altitude
770 kilometers
Spatial
resolution
• PAN: 0,46 m GSD
• MS: 1,85 GSD
Swath
width
16.4 kilometers at nadir
Spectral
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
Revisit
Frequency
1.1 days at 1 meter GSD or less
3.7 days at 20° off-nadir or less (0.52-meter
GSD)
Applications • Creation and update of topographic maps
and plans of scales up to 1:5000.
• Creation of DTMs.
• Engineering survey for construction works
of oil and gas facilities.

9. Page 8 of 23
• Inventory of forests and forests
management.
• Monitoring of the crops’ state, yield
forecasting.
• Creation of maps for urban planning
purposes.
• Emergency monitoring.
• Research.

10. Page 9 of 23
Worldview-3
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
August 13, 2014
Spec Mission Life; 7.25 years
Estimated Service Life: 10 to 12 years
Orbit
Altitude
617 km
Spatial
resolution
PAN: 0,31 m
MS: 1,24 m
SWIR: 3,70 m
CAVIS: 30,0 m
Swath width At nadir: 13.1 km
Spectral
Bands
Panchromatic: 450-800 nm
8 Multispectral: (red, red edge, coastal,
blue, green, yellow, near-IR1, and near-IR2) -
400 nm - 1040 nm
8 SWIR: 1195 nm - 2365 nm
12 CAVIS Bands: (desert clouds, aerosol-1,
aerosol-2, aerosol-3, green, water-1, water-
2, water-3, NDVI-SWIR, cirrus, snow) - 405
nm - 2245 nm
Revisit
Frequency
1 m GSD: <1.0 day
4.5 days at 20° off-nadir or less
Applications • Mapping
• Land classifications
• Disaster preparedness/Response
• Feature extraction/Change detection

11. Page 10 of 23
• Soil/Vegetative analysis
• Geology: Oil&Gas, Mining
• Environmental monitoring
• Bathymetry/Coastal applications

12. Page 11 of 23
GEOEYE-1
Lifetime
span/Lunch
Time
September 6, 2008
Orbit
Altitude
770 km
Spatial
resolution
• Panchromatic: 450 - 800 nm
• Blue: 450 - 510 nm
• Green: 510 - 580 nm
• Red: 655 - 690 nm
• Near Infra-Red: 780 - 920 nm
Swath width • Nominal swath width - 15.2 km / 9.44 mi
at Nadir
• Single-point scene - 225 sq km (15x15 km)
• Contiguous large area - 15,000 sq km
(300x50 km)
• Contiguous 1° cell size areas - 10,000 sq
km (100x100 km)
• Contiguous stereo area - 6,270 sq km
(224x28 km)
Spectral
Bands
• 0.50 m / 1.51 ft* panchromatic (nominal
at Nadir)
• 1.84 m / 6.04 ft* multispectral (nominal at
Nadir)
Revisit
Frequency
• Max Pan GSD (m) 0.42 0.5 0.59
• Off Nadir Look Angle (deg) 10 28 35
• Average Revisit (days) 8.3 2.8 2.1

13. Page 12 of 23
Applications • Mining.
• Agriculture Mapping.
• GVI Sample Satellite Images.
• Soil Moisture and AI Water Management.
• Artificial Intelligence - AI.
• Machine Learning - ML.
• Computer Vision.

14. Page 13 of 23
ASTER
Lifetime
span
18 December 1999
Orbit
Altitude
705 km
Spatial
resolution
• VNIR (Visible and Near-Infrared) Bands 1, 2,
3N, 3B: 15 meters
• SWIR (Shortwave Infrared) Bands 4–9: 30
meters
• TIR (Thermal Infrared) Bands 10–14: 90
meters
Swath
width
60km
Spectral
Bands
• Visible and Near-Infrared
o 1 0.52 - 0.60 15 m
o 2 0.63 - 0.69 15 m
o 3N 0.78 - 0.86 15 m
o 3B 0.78 - 0.86 15 m
• Shortwave Infrared
o 4 1.600 - 1.70030 m
o 5 2.145 - 2.18530 m
o 6 2.185 - 2.22530 m
o 7 2.235 - 2.28530 m
o 8 2.295 - 2.36530 m
o 9 2.360 - 2.43030 m
• Thermal Infrared
o 10 8.125 - 8.47590 m

15. Page 14 of 23
o 11 8.475 - 8.82590 m
o 12 8.925 - 9.27590 m
o 13 10.25 - 10.9590 m
o 14 10.95 - 11.6590 m
Revisit
Frequency
between 4 and 16 days
Applications • monitoring of agricultural crops.
• inventory of agricultural land, creation of
land use plans, precision agriculture.
• monitoring of emergency situations.
• inventory and assessment of forest
condition.
• wide range of tasks in the field of
environmental protection.

16. Page 15 of 23
Sentinel-2A
Lifetime
span
23 June 2015
7 years
Orbit
Altitude
786 km Sun-synchronous
Spatial
resolution
10 m
Swath width 290 km
Spectral
Bands
• Band 1 – Coastal aerosol
• Band 2 – Blue
• Band 3 – Green
• Band 4 – Red
• Band 5 – Vegetation red edge
• Band 6 – Vegetation red edge
• Band 7 – Vegetation red edge
• Band 8 – NIR
• Band 8A – Narrow NIR
• Band 9 – Water vapor
• Band 10 – SWIR – Cirrus
• Band 11 – SWIR
• Band 12 – SWIR
Revisit
Frequency
5 days (at equator)
Applications • monitoring of agricultural crops.

17. Page 16 of 23
• inventory of agricultural land, creation of
land use plans, precision agriculture.
• monitoring of emergency situations.
• inventory and assessment of forest
condition.
• wide range of tasks in the field of
environmental protection.

18. Page 17 of 23
Pleiades Neo 4
Lifetime
span
August 16, 2021
Estimated Service Life: 10 years
Orbit
Altitude
620km
Spatial
resolution
30cm
Swath width At nadir: 14km
Spectral
Bands
• Multispectral: Deep Blue, Blue, Green,
Red,
• Red Edge, Near-infrared,
Revisit
Frequency
Daily, anywhere (30° off-Nadir)
Twice daily, anywhere
(46° off-Nadir)
Applications • urban observation,
• monitoring and land use,
• defense,
• machine learning datasets,
• mapping on large scale projects whilst
enabling for advanced analytics.

19. Page 18 of 23
ZY-3
Lifetime
span
ZY-3 01, was launched in January 2012
ZY-3 02 reached orbit in May 2016.
ZY-3 03 and ZY-3 04 in 2020.
Lifetime: 5 years
Orbit
Altitude
505 km
Spatial
resolution
PAN: 2,1 m (nadir); 3,5 m (Front/Rear)
MS: 6 m
Swath width 51 km
Spectral
Bands
Panchromatic: 500–800 nm
Blue: 450–520 nm
Green: 520–590 nm
Red: 630–690 nm
Near-IR: 770–890 nm
Revisit
Frequency
3 – 5 days
Applications • National security.
• Land-use management.
• Urban planning.
• Agriculture and forestry.
• Ecology.
• Emergency management.

20. Page 19 of 23
GF-5
Lifetime
span
08.05.2018
8 years
Orbit
Altitude
705 km
Spatial
resolution
• 20 m（0.45～2.35 μm）
• 40 m（3.5～12.5 μm）
Swath
width
60 km
Spectral
Bands Ban
d
Spectral
Range
(nm)
Spectral
Resolution(n
m)
Spatial
Resolution(
m) Bands
VNIR
390.324–
1029.18 5 30 150
SWI
R
1004.77–
2513.25 10 30 180
Revisit
Frequency
2-days
Applications • detect the inland water bodies,
• land surface ecological environment,
• eroded minerals, rock, and mineral categories,
• and provide good quality and high reliability of
hyperspectral data for environmental
monitoring,
• resource exploration,
• disaster prevention, and mitigation,
• and other industries.

21. Page 20 of 23
GF-6
Lifetime
span
02.06.2018
5-8 years
Orbit
Altitude
645km
Spatial
resolution
PAN (Nadir): 2m
MS (Nadir): 8m
Swath
width
90 km
Spectral
Bands
Band Central wavelength Band
width (nm)
Band 1 (B1) Blue 485 70
Band 2 (B2) Green 555 70
Band 3 (B3) Red 660 60
Band 4 (B4) Near infrared 830 120
Band 5 (B5) Red edge 1 710 40
Band 6 (B6) Red edge 2 750 40
Band 7 (B7) Purple 425 50
Band 8 (B8) Yellow 610 40
Revisit
Frequency
2 days
Applications • natural resources exploration and protection,
• emergency management,
• agriculture
• and rural areas development,

22. Page 21 of 23
EgyptSat A
Lifetime
span
21 Feb 2019
11 years
Orbit
Altitude
668 km
Spatial
resolution
1 meter (3 ft 3 in) (Pan)
4 meters (13 ft) (MS)
Swath width 1,400 kilometers
Spectral
Bands
visible and infrared spectral bands
Revisit
Frequency
13 days after 191 orbital periods
Applications supply the Egyptian government with high-
resolution views of Earth for environmental,
scientific, and military applications.

23. Page 22 of 23
References
Remote Sensing Satellites. Earth remote sensing satellites ... (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2021, from
https://innoter.com/en/satellites/
Satellite sensors and specifications | satellite imaging corp. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2021, from
https://www.satimagingcorp.com/satellite-sensors/
Usgs.gov | science for a changing world. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2021, from https://www.usgs.gov/
Terra.nasa.gov. 2021. About Terra | Terra. [online] Available at: <https://terra.nasa.gov/About> [Accessed 29
December 2021].
Al-Wassai, Firouz & Kalyankar, N. (2013). Major Limitations of Satellite images.
Landsat Science | A joint NASA/USGS Earth observation program. 2021. Satellites | Landsat Science. [online]
Available at: <https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellites/> [Accessed 29 December 2021].
Gunter's Space Page. 2021. Gaofen 6 (GF 6). [online] Available at: <https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/gf-
6.htm> [Accessed 29 December 2021].
Directory.eoportal.org. 2021. ZY-3A - eoPortal Directory - Satellite Missions. [online] Available at:
<https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/v-w-x-y-z/zy-3a> [Accessed 29 December
2021].
Note: Not all sources are mentioned