RapidEye Mission

Objectives and Applications

System of 5 satellites for cartography, land surface, digital terrain models, disaster management, environmental monitoring.

Mission Summary

Full Name
RapidEye
Mission Status
Mission complete
Mission Agencies
DLR, DLR, DLR, DLR, DLR
Launch Date
29 Aug 2008
Mission Links
EOL Date
30 Apr 2020
EO Portal Info

Orbit Details

Orbit Type
Sun-synchronous
Orbit Period
97 minutes
Orbit Sense
Descending
Orbit Inclination
98.7 deg
Orbit Altitude
622 km
Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST
11:00
Repeat Cycle
1 days
NORAD Catalog #s
International Designators

Mission Instruments

MSI - Multi Spectral Imager

Mission Measurements

CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereCloud type, amount and cloud top temperature MSI
LandAlbedo and reflectance MSI
Vegetation MSI
Multi-purpose imagery (land) MSI
Snow & IceSnow cover, edge and depth MSI
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness MSI

Featured Datasets

RapidEye ESA Archive
Jan-2020
RapidEye was a commercial EO mission, operated by Planet Labs at the time of mission end, and was a constellation of five minisatellites. The mission provided high-resolution (5 m) MS imagery and applications include agriculture, forestry, energy & infrastructure, environment, and security & emergency management. The collection is composed by the copy of products requested by ESA supported projects over their areas of interest around the world, and access is provided through the TPM scheme. - Read more
RapidEye Full Archive
Jan-2020
RapidEye was a commercial EO mission, operated by Planet Labs at the time of mission end, and was a constellation of five minisatellites. The mission provided high-resolution (5 m) MS imagery and applications include agriculture, forestry, energy & infrastructure, environment, and security & emergency management. ESA offers access to worldwide RapidEye archived data via the TPM scheme. - Read more
Rapid Eye ESA TPM
Feb-2019
We are happy to inform you that a new online catalogue for RapidEye L3A products has been opened by Planet. The Planet Explorer replaces the old EyeFind catalogue, providing the ability to search and browse recent and past geospatial data by setting the time and area of interest. Requests for data older than 2012 and new tasking are satisfied directly by the Planet order desk (not via the catalogue). - Read more
RapidEye Take 5
Jan-2013
Carried out by ESA in collaboration with Planet Labs in order to produce 5-day revisit time-series datasets (for this reason it is also called RapidEye Take-5) over selected sites – similar to that produced by the Sentinel-2 mission. The RapidEye Earth Imaging System (REIS) provides data at 5 m spatial resolution (multispectral L3A orthorectified). The products are radiometrically and sensor corrected similar to the Sentinel-2 Level 1B basic product, but have geometric corrections applied during orthorectification using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and GCPs. Access is provided through the ESA TPM scheme. - Read more
RapidEye South America
Jan-2012
In collaboration with Planet Labs, ESA has made this collection of low cloud cover Level 3A tiles freely available via the TPM programme. The RapidEye Earth Imaging System (REIS) provides data at 5 metre spatial resolution (multispectral, orthorectified). Access is provided through the ESA TPM scheme. - Read more