System characterization report on Planet’s Dove-R

Executive Summary

This report addresses system characterization of Planet’s Dove-R and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports present and detail the methodology and procedures for characterization; present technical and operational information about the specific sensing system being evaluated; and provide a summary of test measurements, data retention practices, data analysis results, and conclusions.

Since 2013, Planet has launched more than 360 Dove 3U CubeSats, where U stands for 10-centimeter (cm) x 10-cm x 10-cm stowed dimensions, each weighing about 5 kilograms. Since 2015, all Dove satellites have had four-band imagers with about a 4-meter (m) pixel ground sample distance. Since 2016, all Doves have been launched into Sun-synchronous orbits varying from 474 to 524 kilometers, with inclinations between 97 and 98 degrees. The Dove series satellites do not have orbit maintenance capabilities; thus, their orbits decay slowly over time, contributing to shorter lifetimes of about 3 years. More information on Planet satellites and sensors is available in the “2020 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation—Remote Sensing Satellite Compendium” and from the manufacturer at https://www.planet.com/.

The Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence system characterization team completed data analyses to characterize the geometric (interior and exterior), radiometric, and spatial performances. Results of these analyses indicate that Dove-R has an interior geometric performance in the range of −0.306 (−0.102 pixel) to 0.286 m (0.095 pixel) in easting and 0.090 (0.030 pixel) to 1.084 m (0.361 pixel) in northing in band-to-band registration, an exterior geometric performance of −5.10 m (−0.51 pixel) in easting and 3.30 m (0.33 pixel) in northing offset in comparison to Sentinel-2, a radiometric performance in the range of −0.023 to −0.008 in offset and 0.948 to 1.077 in slope, and a spatial performance in the range of 2.96 to 3.15 pixels for full width at half maximum, with a modulation transfer function at a Nyquist frequency in the range of 0.001 to 0.003.