BackForwardInstrument:  RALCam-1 

Instrument details
Acronym RALCam-1
Full name Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Camera - 1
Purpose Very-high resolution land observation, disasters monitoring
Short description 4-channel VIS radiometer, one panchromatic (PAN), three multispectral (RGB) [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique Pushbroom. Steerable within the field of view by tilting the satellite. Frames of 17 km x 17 km (PAN) or 12 km x 18 km (RGB)
Resolution IFOV: PAN: 2.8 m; RGB: 5.6 m
Coverage / Cycle By strategic pointing, any area can be viewed at 3-day intervals
Mass 32 kg Power 30 W Data Rate

 

Providing Agency UKSA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2006 to 2008
Last update: 2017-03-28
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR @ specified albedo

485 nm

420-550 nm

…….. @ ……. % albedo

590 nm

550-630 nm

…….. @ ……. % albedo

655 nm

580-730 nm

…….. @ ……. % albedo

N/A  (PAN)

420-730 nm

…….. @ ……. % albedo

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
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Cloud cover5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s)
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channels with high resolution for boundary detection
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Glacier cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic channel with higher resolution, for glacier boundary detection
Glacier topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic channels with cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Ice sheet topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic channels with cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbouring orbits
Land surface topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic channels with cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels, range undersampled
Snow cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic (higher resolution) channels
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s)