| Instrument | Status/
Accuracy | Instrument Description | Measurement Technology | Timeline |
Advanced MI
Advanced Meteorological Imager | Operational
| Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of sea surface temperature and cloud coverage. | n/a |  |
AGRI
Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager | Operational
| A multiple channel radiation imager, one of the primary instruments aboard FY-4. Technically featured by a precisely designed two-mirror structure, capable of accurate and flexible sensing in two dimensions, and minute-level fast sector scanning. Frequent Earth imaging over 14 bands with off-axis three reflections of the primary optic system. On-board black body available for IR calibrations at very short time intervals. | n/a | |
ASTER
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer | Operational
| Surface and cloud imaging with high spatial resolution, stereoscopic observation of local topography, cloud heights, volcanic plumes, and generation of local surface digital elevation maps. Surface temperature and emissivity. ASTER SWIR detectors are no longer functioning due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures. ASTER SWIR data acquired since April 2008 are not useable, and show saturation of values and severe striping. All attempts to bring the SWIR bands back to life have failed, and no further action is envisioned. | n/a | |
AVHRR/3
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/3 | Operational
| Measurements of land and sea surface temperature, cloud cover, snow and ice cover, soil moisture and vegetation indices. Data also used for volcanic eruption monitoring. | n/a | |
AWiFS
Advanced Wide Field Sensor | Operational
| Vegetation and crop monitoring, resource assessment (regional scale), forest mapping, land cover/ land use mapping, and change detection. | n/a | |
CZI
Coastal Zone Imager | Operational
| Imagery of coastal regions - estuaries, tidal regions, etc. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
HSI-2 (HJ-2A)
Hyper Spectrum Imager 2 | Operational
| Hyperspectral measurements for environment and disaster management operations. | n/a | |
HYC
HYperspectral Camera | Operational
| Hyperspectral data for complex land ecosystem studies. | n/a | |
IRMSS-2 (HJ-2)
Infrared Multispectral Scanner - 2 | Operational
| Infrared measurements for environment and natural disaster monitoring. | n/a | |
IRS
Infrared scanner | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
KMSS
Multispectral Imager (VIS) system | Operational
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | n/a | |
LISS-III (Resourcesat)
Linear Imaging Self Scanner - III (Resourcesat) | Operational
| Data used for vegetation type assessment, resource assessment, crop stress detection, crop production forecasting, forestry, land use and land cover change. | n/a | |
LISS-IV
Linear Imaging Self Scanner - IV | Operational
| Vegetation monitoring, improved crop discrimination, crop yield, disaster monitoring and rapid assessment of natural resources. | n/a | |
MBEI
Multi-Band Earth Imager | Operational
| Multispectral scanner images of land surface. | n/a | |
MIRS
Middle IR Scanner | Operational
| Scanner images of land surface in middle infra-red range. | n/a | |
MISR
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer | Operational
| Measurements of global surface albedo, aerosol and vegetation properties. Also provides multi-angle bidirectional data (1% angle-to-angle accuracy) for cloud cover and reflectances at the surface and aerosol opacities. Global and local modes. | 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 | |
MSI (BJ-2)
Multispectral Imager | Operational
| SSTL-300 S1 Imager also known as VHRI 100 (Very High Resolution Imager 100). | 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. | n/a | |
MSS
Multispectral imaging system | Operational
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | n/a | |
MSU-MR
Low-resolution multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Operational
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
MUX (CBERS-4)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Agriculture; Forestry; Geology; Natural disaster management; Cartography; Environment monitoring; Fire detection, localization and counting; Hydrology, coastal water mapping; Land use; Surveillance and law enforcement | n/a | |
MUX (CBERS-4A)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Agriculture; Forestry; Geology; Natural disaster management; Cartography; Environment monitoring; Fire detection, localization and counting; Hydrology, coastal water mapping; Land use; Surveillance and law enforcement | n/a | |
MUX (GF-1)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
MUX (GF-2)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
MUX (ZY-3-01)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
MUX (ZY-3-02)
Multispectral CCD Camera | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. | n/a | |
NigeriaSat 2 Remote Sensing (Med and High Res)
NigeriaSat 2 Remote Sensing (Med and High Res) | Operational
| High resolution images for monitoring of land surface and coastal processes and for agricultural, geological and hydrological applications. | n/a | |
NigeriaSat X Remote Sensing (Medium Resolution)
NigeriaSat X Remote Sensing (Medium Resolution) | Operational
| High resolution images for monitoring of land surface and coastal processes and for agricultural, geological and hydrological applications. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
PALSAR-2
Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2 | Operational
| Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry. | n/a | |
PAN (BJ-2)
Panchromatic Imager | Operational
| SSTL-300 S1 Imager also known as VHRI 100 (Very High Resolution Imager 100). | n/a | |
PAN (Cartosat-2A/2B)
Panchromatic Camera | Operational
| High resolution stereo images for large scale (better than 1:0000) mapping applications, urban applications, GIS ingest. | n/a | |
PAN (Cartosat-2E)
Panchromatic Camera | Operational
| High resolution stereo images for large scale (better than 1:0000) mapping applications, urban applications, GIS ingest. | n/a | |
PAN (Cartosat-3)
Panchromatic sensor | Operational
| High resolution images for study of topography, urban areas, development of DTM, run-off models etc. Urban sprawl, forest cover/timber volume, land use change. | n/a | |
PAN (CBERS-4)
Panchromatic and Multispectral Imager | Operational
| Agriculture; Forestry; Geology; Natural disaster management; Cartography; Environment monitoring; Fire detection, localization and counting; Hydrology, coastal water mapping; Land use; Surveillance and law enforcement | n/a | |
PSS
Panchromatic imaging system | Operational
| Panchromatic data for environmental monitoring, agriculture and forestry. | n/a | |
RASAT VIS Multispectral
RASAT VIS Multispectral camera | Operational
| High resolution images for monitoring of land surface and coastal processes and for agricultural, geological and hydrological applications. | n/a | |
RASAT VIS Panchromatic
RASAR VIS Panchromatic camera | Operational
| High resolution images for monitoring of land surface and coastal processes and for agricultural, geological and hydrological applications. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
SAR (RCM)
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C band | Operational
| All-weather, C-band data to support ecosystem monitoring, maritime surveillance and disaster management. | n/a | |
SGLI
Second-generation Global Imager | Operational
| Medium resolution multi-spectral imaging of land, ocean and atmosphere. SGLI-VNR is an optical sensor capable of multi-channel nadir observation at wavelengths from near-UV to NIR and forward or backward polarization observation at red and near infrared wavelengths (Push-broom scanning). SGLI-IRS is an optical sensor capable of multi-channel nadir observation at wavelengths from SWIR to TIR wavelengths (Cross-track scanning). | n/a | |
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 | |
TOP (MS)
THEOS Optical Payload (MS) | Operational
| THEOS Optical Payload - MS (15m GSD, 90km Swath) is a refractive instrument employing a line scanning tehchnique. Data is used for various applications including cartography, land use planning and management, national security, etc. | n/a | |
TOP (PAN)
THEOS Optical Payload (PAN) | Operational
| THEOS Optical Payload - PAN (2m GSD, 22km Swath) is a cassegrain type opto-mechanical instrument employing a line scanning technique. Data is used for various applications including cartography, land use planning and management, national security, etc. | 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 | |
VIRR
Multispectral Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer (10 channels) | Operational
| Multispectral Visible and Infra-red Scan Radiometer. | n/a | |
WFI (Amazonia-1)
Wide Field Imager (Amazonia-1) | Operational
| Used for fire extent detection measurement, coastal and vegetation monitoring, land cover and land use mapping. WFI (Amazonia-1) is the same instrument as WFI (CBERS), however due to differences in orbital altitude, they have different spatial resolution | n/a | |
WFI (CBERS-4)
Wide Field Imager (CBERS) | Operational
| Earth resources, environmental monitoring, land use. WFI (Amazonia-1) is the same instrument as WFI (CBERS), however due to differences in orbital altitude, they have different spatial resolutions. | n/a | |
WFI (CBERS-4A)
Wide Field Imager | Operational
| Agriculture; Forestry; Geology; Natural disaster management; Cartography; Environment monitoring; Fire detection, localization and counting; Hydrology, coastal water mapping; Land use; Surveillance and law enforcement | n/a | |
WPM
Wide Swath Panchromatic and Multispectral Camera | Operational
| Agriculture; Forestry; Geology; Natural disaster management; Cartography; Environment monitoring; Fire detection, localization and counting; Hydrology, coastal water mapping; Land use; Surveillance and law enforcement | n/a | |
WVC-2
Wide View CCD camera - 2 | Operational
| Multispectral measurements of Earth's surface for natural enviroment and disaster applications. | n/a | |
X-Band SAR
X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar | Operational
| High resolution images for monitoring of land surface and coastal processes and for agricultural, geological and hydrological applications. | n/a | |
APAN
Advanced PAN | Being developed
| High-resolution images for the study of topography, urban areas, development of DTM, run-off models etc., urban sprawl, forest cover/timber volume, land use change. | n/a | |
Geoton-L1 (2)
Geoton-L1 | Being developed
| Multispectral images of land surfaces and Oceans. | n/a | |
KShMSA-VR
High resolution wide capture multispectral optical sensor | Being developed
| Land surface and ocean monitoring | n/a | |
LISS-V
Linear Imaging Self Scanner-V | Being developed
| Vegetation monitoring, improved crop discrimination, crop yield, disaster monitoring and rapid assessment of natural resources. | n/a | |
NAOMI (MS)
New Astrosat Optical Modular Imager (MS) | Being developed
| NAOMI - MS (2m GSD, 10.3km Swath) is a TMA opto-mechanical instrument employing 24-stage TDI scanning. Data is used for various applications including cartography, land use planning and management, national security, etc. | n/a | |
NAOMI (PAN)
New Astrosat Optical Modular Imager (PAN) | Being developed
| NAOMI - PAN (0.5m GSD, 10.3km Swath) is a TMA opto-mechanical instrument employing a line scanning technique. Data is used for various applications including cartography, land use planning and management, national security, etc. | n/a | |
PALSAR-3
Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-3 | Being developed
| Disaster monitoring, land monitoring, agricultural monitoring, natural resource exploration, global forest monitoring, potential use and interferometry. | n/a | |
Fourier Transform Spectrometer
Fourier Transform Spectrometer | Approved
| Measure across Earth’s entire far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum | n/a | |
HSI
Hyperspectral Imager | Approved
| Detailed monitoring and characterization of rock and soil targets, vegetation, inland and coastal waters on a global scale. | n/a | |
MVIRS
Moderate Resolution Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectroradiometer | Approved
| Measures surface temperature and cloud and ice cover. Used for snow and flood monitoring and surface temperature. | n/a | |
OEK VR
Multispectral optoelectronic high resolution module | Approved
| Multispectral images of land surfaces and Oceans. | n/a | |
Advanced KMSS
Advanced Multispectral Imager (VIS) | Proposed
| Multispectral images of land & sea surfaces and ice cover. | n/a | |
Advanced MSU-MR
Advanced Multispectral scanning imager-radiometer | Proposed
| Parameters of clouds, snow, ice and land cover, vegetation, surface temperature, fire detection. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
L-Band SAR
L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar | Proposed
| Global observation of dynamic processes in the bio-, cryo-, geo- and hydrosphere. | n/a | |
WSAR
WSAR | Proposed
| High resolution radar measurements of land and ocean features. | n/a | |
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. | n/a | |
SWIR
Short Wave Infra Red | No longer considered
| | n/a | |
VISSR-2
Stretched Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer-2 | No longer operational
| Meteorological. | n/a | |