# Gecko Imager
*sensor . products*

CubeSat-class RGB snapshot imager from Dragonfly Aerospace with 39 m GSD at 500 km. Flight-proven since 2018. 1U form factor, 0.5 kg, 7 W. Deployed on Loft Orbital YAM-3 and other CubeSat missions. Standard RGB Bayer pattern; 80 km swath (standard) or 160 km wide-swath mode.

## Specifications
- **product status**: operational
- **manufacturer**: dragonfly
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"passive-optical","measurement_principle":"passive","spectral_range_nm":{"min":400,"max":700},"spectral_band_count":3,"gsd_m":{"native":39},"swath_km":80,"bit_depth":10}
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-05-28
- **verified by**: sw
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **provider**: dragonfly
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","product_status":"operational","manufacturer":"dragonfly","description":"CubeSat-class RGB snapshot imager from Dragonfly Aerospace with 39 m GSD at 500 km. Flight-proven since 2018. 1U form factor, 0.5 kg, 7 W. Deployed on Loft Orbital YAM-3 and other CubeSat missions. Standard RGB Bayer pattern; 80 km swath (standard) or 160 km wide-swath mode.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"passive-optical\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"spectral_range_nm\":{\"min\":400,\"max\":700},\"spectral_band_count\":3,\"gsd_m\":{\"native\":39},\"swath_km\":80,\"bit_depth\":10}","bus":null,"ground_segment":null,"launcher":null,"analysis_service":null,"deployment_context":"orbital"}
- **technology**: optical-spectral-sensing

## Editorial
The Gecko Imager is a CubeSat-class RGB snapshot imager developed by Dragonfly Aerospace. It occupies a 1U form factor (approximately 100 x 100 x 113 mm), weighs 0.5 kg including electronics, and draws 7 W. At 500 km orbital altitude the instrument delivers 39 m ground sample distance.

Swath depends on operating mode: the standard pushbroom mode covers 80 km; a wide-swath mode extends coverage to 160 km, according to third-party catalogue listings as of 2026-05-28. [^satcatalog-gecko] [^dragonfly-fb-gecko]

The sensor uses a standard RGB Bayer pattern with 10-bit digitisation. Per-band spectral boundaries have not been published in publicly accessible sources as of 2026-05-28; dragonflyaerospace.com was returning access errors at research time.

The Gecko has been flight-proven since 2018 and was delivered to Loft Orbital for integration on the YAM-3 CubeSat mission. [^dragonfly-loft-gecko] It has since been deployed on multiple CubeSat platforms.

The imager is manufactured and sold as a standalone payload component targeting small satellite integrators requiring a low-mass, low-power RGB imaging capability.

## Sources
- [satcatalog-gecko] | Gecko Imager - Camera/Imager | SatCatalog | https://www.satcatalog.com/component/gecko-imager/ | tier=community | accessed=2026-05-28
- [dragonfly-loft-gecko] | Dragonfly Aerospace's Gecko Imager Delivered To Loft Orbital - SatNews | https://news.satnews.com/2021/03/30/dragonfly-aerospaces-gecko-imager-delivered-to-loft-orbital/ | tier=operator-press | accessed=2026-05-28
- [dragonfly-fb-gecko] | Dragonfly Aerospace Facebook post: Gecko specs (39m, 80km swath, 0.4kg) | https://www.facebook.com/DragonflyAerospace/photos/a.128318339047249/244518747427207/ | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-05-28

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/products/sensor/gecko
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)