WMO OSCAR | Details for Instrument VSSC

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Instrument: VSSC

Instrument details

Acronym	VSSC
Full name	VENµS SuperSpectral Camera
Purpose	Very-high-resolution land observation and detailed vegetation classification
Short description	12 VNIR channels [see detailed characteristics below]
Background	New development
Scanning Technique	Pushbroom. Swath 28 km. Tilting capability along and across track by up to ± 30° from nadir
Resolution	5.3 m at s.s.p.
Coverage / Cycle	Any area can be viewed within 2 days by exploiting the pointing capability
Mass	43.5 kg	Power	83 W	Data Rate	800 Mbps

Providing Agency	CNES
Instrument Maturity	Backed by strong heritage
Utilization Period:	2017 to 2024
Last update:	2021-06-16

Detailed characteristics

Central wavelength	Bandwidth	SNR @ specified input spectral radiance
415 nm	40 nm	50 @ 40 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
440 nm	40 nm	80 @ 50 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
490 nm	40 nm	100 @ 30 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
555 nm	40 nm	100 @ 30 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
620 nm	40 nm	100 @ 20 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
620 nm (highest quality for DEM)	40 nm	100 @ 20 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
667 nm	30 nm	100 @ 20 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
702 nm	24 nm	100 @ 15 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
742 nm	16 nm	100 @ 20 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
782 nm	16 nm	100 @ 30 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
865 nm	40 nm	100 @ 30 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1
910 nm	20 nm	50 @ 30 W m^-2 sr^-1 µm^-1

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

Vegetation and Environment monitoring on a New Micro-Satellite (CNES)
- VENµS (see instrument status) Nov 2017 - 2024

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

Mission objectives

Primary mission objectives

Biomass
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)
Fraction of vegetated land
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.

Variable	Relevance for measuring this variable	Operational limitations	Explanation
Biomass*	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels. Biomass inferred from NDVI
Cloud cover	5 - marginal	Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Cloud optical depth	4 - fair	Low-density cloud only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Earth surface albedo	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS channels
Fire fractional cover	2 - very high	Daylight only.. Cloud sensitive.	VIS channels with high resolution for boundary detection
Fraction of Absorbed PAR (FAPAR)*	3 - high	High troposphere only.. Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS channels including Red at 700 nm
Fraction of vegetated land*	2 - very high	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Glacier cover	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Glacier topography	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.	VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits
Ice sheet topography	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.	VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits
Land cover	2 - very high	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Land surface topography	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Long time for mapping.. Daylight only.	VIS channel(s) and steering capability both cross and along track for stereoscopy both in-orbit and between orbits
Leaf Area Index (LAI)*	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS and NIR channels. LAI inferred from NDVI
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)*	2 - very high	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS and NIR channels
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)	3 - high	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS channels, range accurately sampled
Short-wave cloud reflectance	5 - marginal	Infrequent coverage.	VIS and NIR channels. Unsuitable dynamic range (saturation)
Snow cover	4 - fair	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Soil moisture at surface	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Index only.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels. Soil moisture inferred from differential brightness
Soil type	2 - very high	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Upward short-wave irradiance at TOA	5 - marginal	Spectral interpolation needed.. Information on BRDF needed.. Infrequent coverage.	VIS and NIR channels
Vegetation type*	3 - high	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Aerosol volcanic ash Total Column	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Infrequent coverage.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR channels
Sea-ice cover	5 - marginal	Cloud sensitive.. Daylight only.	VIS and NIR (for contour enhancement) channels