# SkySat Camera
*sensor . products*

Planet SkySat passive optical imaging payload collecting panchromatic, blue, green, red, and near-infrared imagery for high-resolution tasking and archive products.

## Specifications
- **product status**: operational
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **manufacturer**: planet-labs
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"passive-optical","measurement_principle":"passive","spectral_range_nm":{"min":450,"max":900},"spectral_band_count":5,"gsd_m":{"native":0.5},"swath_km":5.73}
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-16
- **verified by**: operator
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **provider**: planet-labs
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","product_status":"operational","deployment_context":"orbital","manufacturer":"planet-labs","description":"Planet SkySat passive optical imaging payload collecting panchromatic, blue, green, red, and near-infrared imagery for high-resolution tasking and archive products.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"passive-optical\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"spectral_range_nm\":{\"min\":450,\"max\":900},\"spectral_band_count\":5,\"gsd_m\":{\"native\":0.5},\"swath_km\":5.73}"}
- **technology**: optical-spectral-sensing

## Editorial
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. [^planet-skysat-docs]

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. [^usgs-skysat-characterization] [^planet-skysat-docs]

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. [^planet-skysat-docs] [^usgs-skysat-characterization]

## Compositional position
- planet-skysat (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> SkySat Camera

## Sources
- [planet-skysat-docs] | Planet Documentation, SkySat imagery | https://docs.planet.com/data/imagery/skysat/ | tier=operator-datasheet | accessed=2026-06-16
- [usgs-skysat-characterization] | System Characterization Report on Planet SkySat, USGS | https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2021/1030/e/ofr20211030e.pdf | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16

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