Thermal
Specifications
- Best resolution
- 3.5 mSatVu HotSat class
- Bands
- Mid-wave infrared 3–5 µm (SatVu, KOMPSAT-3A) · long-wave 8.6–11.75 µm (constellr)
- Products
- Stills and thermal video; land surface temperature grids (constellr)
- Day / night
- Bothnight preferred for most uses
- Status
- HotSat-2SkyBee-1 and SkyBee-2 in service
Emission
Radiance by surface temperature, against the two atmospheric windows. Switch to day to add reflected sunlight.
- Emitted
- Reflected sunlight
- Surface temperature
- Emission peak
- Mid-wave : long-wave
- Sunlight in mid-wave
Blackbody emission. Reflected sunlight at albedo 0.15, sun 45° above the horizon.
Sensors
Band and ground pixel, commercial and public.
- Operators we task
- Public missions
Gallery
Select a frame to open it at full resolution.
Detects
- Heat loss from roofs and façades, building by building
- Which plants, stacks and units are running
- Crop water stress days before it shows in colour
- Urban heat islands, at street resolution
Limits
- Cloud blocks it, as with optical
- Coarser than optical: pixels of metres, not centimetres
- Absolute temperature needs atmospheric correction; relative differences are robust
Satellites
Sorted by resolution. Operators’ published figures.
SatelliteOperatorResolutionLaunchedStatus