The project

Remote sensing

Satellite sensors

About ASTER

The project team

You can now navigate the database using an ArcIMS web based interface.
THE ASTER SENSOR

In 1999, NASA launched its first Earth Observing System satellite, Terra. This launch was phase two of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a program established in 1991 to promote and gain a better understanding of the global environment through satellite observations. On board, Terra carries five different sensor systems:

  • ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer
  • MODIS Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer
  • CERES Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System
  • MISR Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer
  • MOPITT Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphe
    Example of portion of an ASTER scene over the city of Springfield MO, the image is a false color composite.
ASTER is a high resolution imaging instrument that is flying on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra satellite. It has the highest spatial resolution of all five sensors on Terra and collects data in the visible/near infrared (VNIR), short wave infrared (SWIR), and thermal infrared bands (TIR). Each subsystem is pointable in the crosstrack direction. The VNIR subsystem of ASTER is quite unique. One telescope of the VNIR system is nadir looking and two are backward looking, allowing for the construction of 3-dimensional digital elevation models (DEM) due to the stereo capability of the different look angles. ASTER has a revisit period of 16 days, to any one location on the globe, with a revisit time at the equator of every four days. ASTER collects approximately eight minutes of data per orbit (rather than continuously).
 
Data Set Characteristics
VNIR
Area: 60km x 60 km
Image Dimensions: 2500 rows x 2500 columns
Image Resolution: 15m
File Size: ~ 84.1 MB
Data Type: 8 bit
 SWIR
Area: 60km x 60 km
Image Dimensions: 2500 rows x 2500 columns
Image Resolution: 30m
File Size: ~ 21.4 MB
Data Type: 8 bit
 TIR
Area: 60km x 60 km
Image Dimensions: 2500 rows x 2500 columns
Image Resolution: 90m
File Size: ~2.8 MB
Data Type: 12 bit
 
ASTER LINKS
This project was generously funded by the Missouri State University Faculty Curriculum Grant
Copyright © 2004 Missouri State University
Updated