ASTER Satellite Sensor
ASTER stand for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, it is operating on the Terra spacecraft. The Terra satellite launched in December 1999 as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS), a Sun-synchronous polar orbit.
ASTER is a cooperative effort between NASA, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and Japan’s Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC). Compared with Landsat Thematic Mapper and Japan’s JERS-1 OPS scanner, ASTER instrument is the next generation in Remote Sensing imaging.
ASTER captures high resolution data in the visible to thermal infrared wavelength spectrum and provides stereo viewing capability for DEM creation.
Tutorial Contents
ASTER Satellite Sensor Specifications
| Launch Date | 18 December 1999 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA |
| Equator Crossing | 10:30 AM (north to south) |
| Orbit | 705 km altitude, sun synchronous |
| Orbit Inclination | 98.3 degrees from the equator |
| Orbit Period | 98.88 minutes |
| Grounding Track Repeat Cycle | 16 days |
| Resolution | 15 to 90 meters |
Sensor Characteristics
ASTER instrument consists of three subsystems: Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR), Shortwave Infrared (SWIR), and Thermal Infrared (TIR).
| Characterisic | VNIR | SWIR | TIR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spectral Range Wavelengths (micrometres) | Band 1 0.52 – 0.60 | Band 4 1.68 – 1.70 | Band 10 8.125 – 8.475 |
| Band 2 0.63 – 0.69 | Band 5 2.145 – 2.185 | Band 11 8.475 – 8.825 | |
| Band 3 0.76 – 0.86 | Band 6 2.185 – 2.225 | Band 12 8/925 – 9.275 | |
| Band 3 0.76 – 0.86 | Band 7 2.235 – 2.285 | Band 13 10.25 – 10.95 | |
| Band 8 2.295 – 2.365 | Band 14 10.95 – 11.65 | ||
| Band 9 2.360 – 2.430 | |||
| Ground Resolution | 15 m | 30 m | 90 m |
| Swath Width | 60 km | 60 km | 60 km |
Aster Satellite Data Download
Download ASTER Satellite data:
- ALL products are available to all users at no cost: ASTER L1A, L1B, L1T; Higher Level Data Products (HLDPs) created from L1A; the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM), and the North American ASTER Land Surface Emissivity Database (NAALSED). Registration is required for all users. Download Now
- Search the entire ASTER data archive using a browse-based map interface. Order:1) pseudocolor natural color image as WMS/KML; 2) Level 3 orthorectified bands 1-14 with 30m DEM; 3) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM). Download Now
ASTER Resolution
Temporal Resolution
The ASTER products distributed from LP DAAC are produced from on-demand data acquisition requests and are not categorized by regular temporal ranges.
Spatial Resolution
The ASTER instruments acquire data in three native spatial resolutions:
- VNIR (Visible and Near-Infrared) Bands 1, 2, 3N, 3B1: 15 meter
- SWIR (Shortwave Infrared) Bands 4–9: 30 meter
- TIR (Thermal Infrared) Bands 10–14: 90 meter
ASTER Spectral Bands
| Band | Wavelengths (µm) | Spatial Resolution (m) | Subsystem |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.52 – 0.60 | 15 m | VNIR |
| 2 | 0.63 – 0.69 | 15 m | VNIR |
| 3N | 0.78 – 0.86 | 15 m | VNIR |
| 3B | 0.78 – 0.86 | 15 m | VNIR |
| 4 | 1.600 – 1.700 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 5 | 2.145 – 2.185 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 6 | 2.185 – 2.225 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 7 | 2.235 – 2.285 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 8 | 2.295 – 2.365 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 9 | 2.360 – 2.430 | 30 m | SWIR |
| 10 | 8.125 – 8.475 | 90 m | TIR |
| 11 | 8.475 – 8.825 | 90 m | TIR |
| 12 | 8.925 – 9.275 | 90 m | TIR |
| 13 | 10.25 – 10.95 | 90 m | TIR |
| 14 | 10.95 – 11.65 | 90 m | TIR |
ASTER Processing Levels
- Level-1A: Reconstructed, unprocessed instrument data at full resolution, time-referenced, and annotated with ancillary information, including radiometric and geometric calibration coefficients and Georeferencing parameters computed and appended but not applied to Level 0 data.
- Level-1B: Level-1A data that have been processed to sensor units in Level-1B.
- Level-2: Derived geophysical variables at the same resolution and location as Level-1 source data.
- Level-3: Variables mapped on uniform space-time grid scales, usually with some completeness and consistency.