BackForwardInstrument:  TAC 

Instrument details
Acronym TAC
Full name Three-line Array Camera
Purpose Digital Elevation Model
Short description Assemblage of 3 panchromatic cameras (500-800 nm) looking nadir, fore- and aft- (offset 22°)
Background New development
Scanning Technique Pushbroom, swath 51 km (nadir camera) and 52 km (aft- and fore- cameras)
Resolution Nadir: 2.1 m; fore- and aft-: 3.5 m
Coverage / Cycle Global in 2 months
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency CAST
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2012 to 2025
Last update: 2022-07-27
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
Snow cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel
Sea-ice cover5 - marginalCloud sensitive.. Daylight only.Panchromatic channel