# Visual and Infrared Multispectral Sensor
*sensor . products*

Visual and infrared multispectral sensor listed by WMO OSCAR and CEOS GF-5 mission materials as a GF-5 payload; detailed public specifications were not available in reviewed tier-1/2 records.

## Specifications
- **product status**: operational
- **deployment context**: orbital
- **manufacturer**: cnsa
- **sensor**: {"instrument_family":"passive-optical","measurement_principle":"passive","spec_disclosure":"undisclosed"}
- **entity type**: sensor
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-16
- **verified by**: agency-doc
- **claim status**: agency-sourced
- **provider**: cnsa
- **attributes**: {"kind":"sensor","product_status":"operational","deployment_context":"orbital","manufacturer":"cnsa","description":"Visual and infrared multispectral sensor listed by WMO OSCAR and CEOS GF-5 mission materials as a GF-5 payload; detailed public specifications were not available in reviewed tier-1/2 records.","sensor":"{\"instrument_family\":\"passive-optical\",\"measurement_principle\":\"passive\",\"spec_disclosure\":\"undisclosed\"}"}
- **relevance**: in-scope

## Editorial
GF-5 VIMS is the Earth-observation Visual and Infrared Multispectral Sensor, not the Cassini planetary instrument that shares the acronym. VIMS is a Gaofen-5 payload.[^wmo-gf5][^ceos-gf5-overview-pdf] It is a 12-band multispectral instrument spanning visible, near-infrared, shortwave-infrared, middle-infrared, and thermal-infrared coverage from 0.45 to 12.5 micrometres.[^acrs-vims-2019] Spatial resolution is 20 m for the VNIR/SWIR bands and 40 m for the MIR/TIR bands, with a 60 km swath.[^acrs-vims-2019] The original GF-5 VIMS instance is inactive after an estimated end of life of at least 2020, while product-family availability should be treated separately from any single spacecraft instance when checking access or lineage.[^wmo-gf5] Buyer-relevant applications include land-surface temperature and emissivity retrieval, thermal-infrared surface observation, thermal-anomaly screening, and multispectral land or environmental monitoring.[^acrs-vims-2019]

## Compositional position
- gaofen-5 (missions) --[mission_payloads]--> Visual and Infrared Multispectral Sensor

## Sources
- [wmo-gf5] | WMO OSCAR satellite record: GF-5 | https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/gf_5 | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16
- [ceos-gf5-overview-pdf] | Mission Overview GaoFen-5, CEOS AC-VC-12 presentation | https://ceos.org/document_management/Virtual_Constellations/ACC/Meetings/AC-VC-12/Day%201/5.%20Linagfu%20Chen%20-%20Gaofeng-5%201013.pdf | tier=agency-doc | accessed=2026-06-16 | published=2016-10-13
- [acrs-vims-2019] | Image Simulation for GF-5 Visual and Infrared Multispectral Sensor | https://acrs-aars.org/proceeding/ACRS2019/TuE2-4.pdf | tier=peer-reviewed | accessed=2026-06-16

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