BackForwardInstrument:  MSU-SK (Resurs) 

Instrument details
Acronym MSU-SK (Resurs)
Full name Multispectral VNIR/IR conical scanning radiometer
Purpose Land and vegetation observation
Short description 5-channel VIS/IR radiometer, 4 in VIS/NIR/SWIR, one in TIR [see detailed characteristics below]
Background New development
Scanning Technique Conical scanning for contant resolution across the image. Scanning rate 50 lines/s in SW channels, 12.5 in the TIR channel. Swath 600 km
Resolution 170 m (SW) or 600 m (TIR)
Coverage / Cycle Global in 2.5 days (TIR) or 5 days (SW)
Mass 21 kg Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency Roscosmos
Instrument Maturity Flown on operational programme
Utilization Period: 1980 to 2001
Last update: 2017-03-28
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR or NEΔT @ specified input

0.55 μm

0.5-0.6 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.65 μm

0.6-0.7 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.75 μm

0.7-0.8 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

0.95 μm

0.8-1.1 μm

.… @ …. % albedo

11.5 μm

10.4-12.6 μm

0.5 K @ 300 K

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
  • VIS/IR imagery; realisation of a Day/Night band [in SSO]
  • VIS/IR imager [in SSO]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Fire fractional cover
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Fraction of vegetated land
  • Land cover
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Vegetation type
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
Biomass*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s) around 11 micrometers
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud top temperature5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s) around 11 micrometers
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover*1 - primaryCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and TIR channels
Fire radiative power5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s) around 11 micrometers
Fire temperature5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s) around 11 micrometers
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Fraction of vegetated land*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Glacier cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Glacier topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Ice sheet topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour orbits
Land cover*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Land surface topography5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS channel(s) and cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbouring orbits
Leaf Area Index (LAI)*4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels, range undersampled
Sea surface temperature5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.TIR window channel(s)
Short-wave cloud reflectance5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation)
Snow cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Soil moisture at surface4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and TIR window channels. Soil moisture inferred from thermal inertia
Soil type2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA5 - marginalSpectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels
Vegetation type*3 - highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Sea-ice cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.VIS, NIR (for contour enhancement) and TIR channels