Abstract
Planet currently operates a constellation of hundreds of satellites that collect multiple images of the Earth each day, constructing an historic daily catalog of the Earth’s surface taken over the past four years containing millions of images. Innovations in satellite and camera design over the past few years have resulted in a constellation containing several generations of instruments that require relative and absolute radiometric calibration to produce a seamless imaging product. We use the moon as a natural stable reference unencumbered by atmospheric effects present while nadir imaging and have amassed a database of over nine millions images of the moon taken by all of the satellites within our fleet since Q4 of 2016. We will present results on our lunar processing pipeline that leverages routinely automated near simultaneous imaging of the moon over the entire constellation to reduce intra-flock variations. We will discuss how lunar images help us detect hazing and scattered stray light across the image plane, as well as monitor imaging stability over our instruments’ lifetime.
Evaluating Radiometry within a Heterogenous Satellite Fleet
Planet currently operates a constellation of hundreds of satellites that collect multiple images of the Earth each day, constructing an historic daily catalog of the Earth’s surface taken over the past four years containing millions of images. Innovations in satellite and camera design over the past few years have resulted in a constellation containing several generations of instruments that require relative and absolute radiometric calibration to produce a seamless imaging product. We use the moon as a natural stable reference unencumbered by atmospheric effects present while nadir imaging and have amassed a database of over nine millions images of the moon taken by all of the satellites within our fleet since Q4 of 2016. We will present results on our lunar processing pipeline that leverages routinely automated near simultaneous imaging of the moon over the entire constellation to reduce intra-flock variations. We will discuss how lunar images help us detect hazing and scattered stray light across the image plane, as well as monitor imaging stability over our instruments’ lifetime.