BackForwardInstrument:  Pléiades-Neo 

Instrument details
Acronym Pléiades-Neo
Full name Pléiades-Neo
Purpose Very-high-resolution land and vegetation observation. Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Short description Seven VNIR channels, 6 multi-spectral (MS) one panchromatic (PAN) [see detailed characteristics below]
Background Improved after the HiRI instrument flown on Pléiades 1 and 2
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, swath 14 km s.s.p.; cross-track pointing capability by up to ± 30° off-nadir. Stereoscopic capability in-orbit and between successive orbits
Resolution 1.2 m (MS), 0.3 m (PAN), at s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle Global coverage in 30 days, in daylight. With strategic pointing, one place can be observed every 2 days. The constellation of 4 satellites enables revisit at 12-hour rate.
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency CNES
Instrument Maturity Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period: 2021 to 2031
Last update: 2021-08-31
Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength

Spectral interval

SNR @ specified albedo

425 nm

400-450 nm

…. @ … % albedo

485 nm

450-520 nm

…. @ … % albedo

560 nm

530-590 nm

…. @ … % albedo

655 nm

620-690 nm

…. @ … % albedo

725 nm

700-750 nm

…. @ … % albedo

825 nm

770-880 nm

…. @ … % albedo

N/A (PAN)

450-800 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
  • Subcomponent 4
  • GNSS radio occultation (commercial)
  • High-resolution optical observation constellation (commercial)
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Biomass
  • Fire fractional cover
  • Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
  • Fraction of vegetated land
  • Land cover
  • Land surface topography
  • Leaf Area Index (LAI)
  • Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
  • Soil type
  • 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.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth4 - fairLow-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Earth surface albedo5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.VIS channels
Fire fractional cover*2 - 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
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; and panchromatic channel with high 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 cover*2 - very highCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels
Land surface topography*5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.VIS and panchromatic channels with cross-track steering capability for stereoscopy between images from neighbour 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
Short-wave cloud reflectance5 - marginalInfrequent coverage.VIS and NIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation)
Snow cover4 - fairCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS, NIR and panchromatic (higher resolution) channels
Soil moisture at surface5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Soil type*2 - 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 cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels