BackForwardInstrument:  MEOSS 

Instrument details
Acronym MEOSS
Full name Monocular Electro-Optical Stereo Scanner
Purpose Land observation with along-track stereo capability for topography
Short description Panchromatic, 0.57-0.7 µm. Stereo camera system capable of recording three images simultaneously with a single lens by means of linear scanning
Background Failed with satellite at launch
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, swath 510 km, simultaneous fore-, nadir and aft- views
Resolution 50 m along track, 158 m cross-track, 45 m in vertical direction
Coverage / Cycle Global in 5 days
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency DLR
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1993-09-20 to 1993-09-20
Last update: 2017-03-28
Detailed characteristics
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 No WIGOS subcomponents have been defined.
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Fire fractional cover
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.Panchromatic channel
Fire fractional cover*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel with high resolution, for fire boundary detection
Glacier cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel with high resolution, for glacier boundary detection
Glacier topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel and along-track steering capability for stereoscopy between successive images along the orbit
Ice sheet topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel and along-track steering capability for stereoscopy between successive images along the orbit
Land surface topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel and along-track steering capability for stereoscopy between consecutive images along the orbit
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel
Snow cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel