BackForwardInstrument:  ASTER 

Instrument details
Acronym ASTER
Full name Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer
Purpose High-resolution land and vegetation observation
Short description
  • 14-channel radiometer in three sub-systems, VIS/NIR (3 channels),  SWIR (6 channels), TIR (5 channels) [see detailed characteristics below]
  • More information here
Background

New development
Scanning Technique

VNIR and SWIR pushbroom; 4000 pixel/line (VNIR), 2000 pixel/line (SWIR); TIR whiskbroom  (670 pixel/line;  swath 60 km s.s.p.; cross-track pointing capability within a range of  ± 318 km (VNIR) or ± 116 km (SWIR and TIR); along-track stereoscopic viewing in one NIR channel (0.81 µm)
Resolution Changing with channels group (see table)
Coverage / Cycle By exploiting strategic pointing, any place within 16 days, or within 5 days limited to VNIR in daylight
Mass 421 kg Power 463 W Data Rate 89.2 Mbps

 

Providing Agency METI
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2000 to 2022
Last update: 2024-09-30
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR or NEΔT @ specified input

Resolution s.s.p.

0.56 µm

0.52-0.60 µm

140 @ 70% albedo

15 m

0.66 µm

0.63-0.69 µm

140 @ 70% albedo

15 m

0.81 µm

0.76-0.86 µm

140 @ 70% albedo

15 m

1.65 µm

1.60-1.70 µm

140 @ 70% albedo

30 m

2.165 µm

2.145-2.185 µm

54 @ 70% albedo

30 m

2.205 µm

2.185-2.225 µm

54 @ 70% albedo

30 m

2.260 µm

2.235-2.285 µm

54 @ 70% albedo

30 m

2.330 µm

2.295-2.365 µm

70 @ 70% albedo

30 m

2.395 µm

2.360-2.430 µm

54 @ 70% albedo

30 m

8.30 µm

8.125-8.475 µm

0.3 K @ 300 K

90 m

8.65 µm

8.475-8.825 µm

0.3 K @ 300 K

90 m

9.10 µm

8.925-9.275 µm

0.3 K @ 300 K

90 m

10.60 µm

10.25-10.95 µm

0.3 K @ 300 K

90 m

11.30 µm

10.95-11.65 µm

0.3 K @ 300 K

90 m
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Passive optical radiometer or spectrometer
  • High resolution optical imager
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • High-resolution multi-spectral VIS/IR imagers
  • High-resolution multi-spectral VIS/IR imager
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Evaluation of Measurements