SkySat Camera

SkySat Camera is Planet's high-resolution passive optical imaging payload for the SkySat constellation. It collects panchromatic and multispectral imagery, and current SkySat products include tasking, archive imagery, and video or stereo collection modes for a 15-satellite high-resolution constellation. ^[1]

The optical design uses Cassegrain telescopes with three overlapping 5.5 megapixel CMOS imaging detectors in the focal plane. Multispectral bands are characterized as blue 450-515 nm, green 515-595 nm, red 605-695 nm, and near-infrared 740-900 nm; the product line also includes four-band and panchromatic imagery. ^{[2] [1]}

For current product use, orthorectified SkySat imagery is sampled at 50 cm per pixel; the USGS SkySat-12 multispectral characterization is 0.81 m GSD with a 5.9 km swath. Those values describe different product and characterization contexts and should not be conflated. ^{[1] [2]}