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System Characterization Report on Planet’s SuperDove

Open-File Report 2021-1030-F
By: , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211030F

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Executive Summary

This report addresses system characterization of Planet’s SuperDove and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports present and detail the methodology and procedures for characterization; present technical and operational information about the specific sensing system being evaluated; and provide a summary of test measurements, data retention practices, data analysis results, and conclusions.

Since 2013, Planet has launched more than 360 Dove 3U CubeSats, where U stands for 10-centimeter (cm) x 10-cm x 10-cm stowed dimensions, each weighing about 5.8 kilograms. Since 2015, all Dove satellites have had four-band imagers with about a 3-meter (m) pixel ground sample distance. Since 2016, all Doves have been launched into Sun-synchronous orbits varying from 474 to 524 kilometers, with inclinations between 97 and 98 degrees. The Dove series satellites do not have orbit maintenance capabilities; thus, their orbits decay slowly over time, contributing to shorter lifetimes of about 3 years. More information on Planet satellites and sensors is available in the “2020 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation—Remote Sensing Satellite Compendium” and from the manufacturer at https://www.planet.com/.

The Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence system characterization team completed data analyses to characterize the geometric (interior and exterior), radiometric, and spatial performances. Results of these analyses indicate that SuperDove has a band-to-band geometric performance in the range of −1.701 m (−0.567 pixel) to 1.173 m (0.391 pixel) in easting and −4.950 m (−1.650 pixels) to 6.051 m (2.017 pixels) in northing, an image-to-image geometric performance of −1.17 m (−0.39 pixel) to 23.45 m (7.82 pixels) in easting and −10.61 m (−3.54 pixels) to −4.43 m (−1.48 pixels) in northing offset in comparison to Sentinel-2, a radiometric performance in the range of −0.043 to 0.020 in offset and 0.812 to 1.246 in slope, and a spatial performance in the range of 3.59 to 3.70 pixels for full width at half maximum, with a modulation transfer function at a Nyquist frequency in the range of 0.005 to 0.008.

Suggested Citation

Kim, M., Park, S., Anderson, C., and Stensaas, G.L., 2022, System characterization report on Planet’s SuperDove, chap. F of Ramaseri Chandra, S.N., comp., System characterization of Earth observation sensors: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021–1030, 19 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211030F.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Table of Contents

  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction
  • Purpose and Scope
  • System Description
  • Procedures
  • Measurements
  • Analysis
  • Summary and Conclusions
  • Selected References
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title System characterization report on Planet’s SuperDove
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2021-1030
Chapter F
DOI 10.3133/ofr20211030F
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description iv, 19 p.
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details