| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
BRLK S-range
S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar | Operational
| Disaster monitoring, sea surface monitoring, information support of environmental managment | Imaging radar (SAR) |  |
COMIS
COMpact Imaging Spectrometer | Operational
| Land use assessments | High resolution optical imager | |
CSG SAR
COSMO-SkyMed di Seconda Generazione SAR | Operational
| All-weather images of ocean, land and ice for monitoring of land surface processes, ice, environmental monitoring, risk management, environmental resources, maritime management, Earth topographic mapping. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
ETM+
Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus | Operational
| Measures surface radiance and emittance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
HiRI
High-Resolution Imager | Operational
| Cartography, land use, risk, agriculture and forestry, civil planning and mapping, digital terrain models, defence. | High resolution optical imager | |
MBEI
Multi-Band Earth Imager | Operational
| Multispectral scanner images of land surface. | High resolution optical imager | |
MERSI
Medium Resolution Spectral Imager | Operational
| Measurement of vegetation indexes and ocean colour. | n/a | |
MERSI-2
Improved Medium Resolution Spectral Imager | Operational
| Measurement of vegetation indexes and ocean colour. | n/a | |
MERSI-LL
Medium Resolution Spectral Imager - Low-Light | Operational
| Measurement of vegetation indexes and ocean colour. | n/a | |
MERSI-S
Improved Medium Resolution Spectral Imager - Simplified | Operational
| Measurement of vegetation indexes and ocean colour. | n/a | |
MeteoSAR
MeteoSAR | Operational
| Land and sea surface monitoring | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
MIRS
Middle IR Scanner | Operational
| Scanner images of land surface in middle infra-red range. | n/a | |
MODIS
MODerate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer | Operational
| Data on biological and physical processes on the surface of the Earth and in the lower atmosphere, and on global dynamics. Surface temperatures of land and ocean, chlorophyll fluorescence, land cover measurements, cloud cover (day and night). | n/a | |
MS
Multispectral Imager | Operational
| Vegetation and land cover, land cover change. | n/a | |
MSI (Sentinel-2)
Multi-Spectral Instrument (Sentinel-2) | Operational
| Optical high spatial resolution imagery over land and coastal areas for GMES operational services. | High resolution optical imager | |
OLCI
Ocean and Land Colour Imager | Operational
| Marine and land services. | n/a | |
OLI
Operational Land Imager | Operational
| Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
OLI-2
Operational Land Imager 2 | Operational
| Measures surface radiance, land cover state, and change (e.g., vegetation type). Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
PAN (GF-1)
Panchromatic and multispectral imager | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use, urban studies. | High resolution optical imager | |
PAN (GF-2)
Panchromatic and multispectral imager | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use, urban studies. | High resolution optical imager | |
PAN CAMERA
Panchromatic Camera | Operational
| Panchromatic data. | High resolution optical imager | |
Paz SAR-X
X Band Synthetic Aperture Radar | Operational
| High resolution X-band radar for security, land use, urban management, environmental monitoring, risk management. Different acquisition modes: Spotlight (5 x 5-10 km SSD =<1 m), Scansar (100 x 100 km, SSD <=15 m); Stripmode (strips of 30 x 30 km with SSD 3 m). | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
PSS
Panchromatic imaging system | Operational
| Panchromatic data for environmental monitoring, agriculture and forestry. | High resolution optical imager | |
SAR (RADARSAT-2)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather images of ocean, ice and land surfaces. Used for monitoring of coastal zones, polar ice, sea ice, sea state, geological features, vegetation and land surface processes. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SAR (RCM)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather, C-band data to support ecosystem monitoring, maritime surveillance and disaster management. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SAR 2000
Synthetic Aperture Radar - 2000 | Operational
| All-weather images of ocean, land and ice for monitoring of land surface processes, ice, environmental monitoring, risk management, environmental resources, maritime management, Earth topographic mapping. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SAR-L
L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar | Operational
| Land, ocean, emergencies, soil moisture, interferometry, others. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
S-band SAR
S-band SAR | Operational
| SAR imagery for a range of applications including agriculture, maritime and forestry | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
SLIM-6-22
Surrey Linear Imager - 6 channel - 22m resolution | Operational
| Visible and NIR imagery in support of disaster management - part of the Disaster Management constellation. | High resolution optical imager | |
TIRS
Thermal Infrared Sensor | Operational
| Measures longwave thermal infrared surface emittance, land cover state, and change. Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. | n/a | |
TIRS-2
Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 | Operational
| Measures longwave thermal infrared surface emittance, land cover state, and change. Used as multipurpose imagery for land applications. TIRS-2 will adhere to the Landsat 8 TIRS instrument performance specifications but will be built to NASA Class-B instrument standards (including a 5-year design life). | n/a | |
VIIRS
Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite | Operational
| Global observations of land, ocean, and atmosphere parameters: cloud/weather imagery, sea-surface temperature, ocean colour, land surface vegetation indices. | n/a | |
VNREDSat-1 MS
VNREDSat-1 Multispectral | Operational
| The VNREDSat 1 multispectral instrument is designed for land cover measurements and applications. | n/a | |
WFV
Wide Field View | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
Compact Advanced Payload Wide Swath (CAS500-4)
Compact Advanced Payload Wide Swath (CAS500-4) | Being developed
| Agricultural and forest monitoring | High resolution optical imager | |
CWFMS
Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring Sensor | Being developed
| Measurements are: Fire Radiative Power (FRP), hotspot locations, rate of spread, burned area mapping. Data products generated: 1) Fire maps, showing location, extent, and timing of forest fire events; 2) Fire characteristics, such as fire line intensity, rate of spread and fuel consumption; 3) Plume dynamics through smoke transport maps and plume heights; 4) Mass of carbon released into atmosphere. | n/a | |
GSA (1)
Hyperspectral imaging equipment | Being developed
| Land surface monitoring | n/a | |
LOTUSat SAR
LOTUSat SAR | Being developed
| The LOTUSat 1 SAR instrument is designed for land cover measurements and applications. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
CAR
High Resolution Camera | Approved
| Panchromatic and multispectral (Vis/IR) measurements with high spatial resolution, with stereo capability for DEM generation. Applications in emergencies in general, agriculture, land use/land cover, change detection, urban environment, cartography, topography. | High resolution optical imager | |
Kasatka-R
Kasatka-R | Approved
| Disaster monitoring, sea surface monitoring, information support of environmental managment | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
MERSI-3
Improved Medium Resolution Spectral Imager - 3 | Approved
| Measurement of vegetation indexes and ocean colour. | n/a | |
Advanced SAR
Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar X band | Proposed
| High resolution microwave radar images for ice watch. | Imaging radar (SAR) | |
LandIS
Landsat Next Instrument Suite | Proposed
| Measures surface radiance, land cover state and change (e.g., vegetation type), and longwave termal infrared surface emittance. Used as multi-purpose imagery for land applications. | High resolution optical imager | |
HISUI
Hyperspectral Imager Suite | No longer considered
| Global energy and resource related applications - Exploration of oil, gas, and metal resources - Environmental assessments of oil/gas fields and mines. Other applications such as environmental monitoring, agriculture, and forestry. Instrument was considered as a part of ALOS-3. | High resolution optical imager | |
VNIR
Visible and Near Infra Red | No longer considered
| | n/a | |