Research on High Resolution Thermal Infrared Satellite Technology and Applications

High resolution thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data are widely used in many fields, such as environmental protection, land resources, urban construction and other scientific applications. This article presents a high resolution thermal infrared satellite concept to meet above requirements. The satellite can operate in a sun synchronous orbit, and provide high spatial resolution data (∼5m) with a 2-day revisit in 19 spectral bands. The payload of the satellite can obtain radiance data which are subsequently processed into measurements of atmospheric and surface properties, such as land surface temperature (LST), water surface temperature, evapotranspiration, column water vapor, material composition and others. For users with urgent needs, remote sensing data of the payload can be processed by utilizing the Intelligent Onboard Data Processing (IODP) technology, so that event information is obtained onboard. Through the direct data downlink, event information is transmitted to ground stations immediately, so application users can quickly respond. In addition, because of the small swath of the high resolution satellite, the payload must be installed on an agile platform, which can effectively enlarge swath by multi-stripes splicing imaging. In general, this article provides an overview of the technical approach and application direction of high resolution thermal infrared satellites, which can be used as a reference for satellite applications and engineering development.