Land and Climate Seminar - The Thermal DIEGOSat Satellite Mission -Call for Participation-

Speaker: Johannes Schultz

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is funding a Phase A feasibility study for the thermal satellite mission DIEGOSat, which officially started on 01.06.2025. The project is coordinated from Bochum, with the Remote Sensing Research Group (RSRG) at the University of Bonn responsible for radiative transfer modeling to simulate DIEGOSat sensor data.
The presentation will provide an overview of the key technical specifications of the DIEGOSat thermal and VIS-NIR sensor system, as well as discuss potential scientific applications across various disciplines. The mission team invites the scientific community to contribute by identifying specific user needs, defining mission and sensor requirements, and exploring opportunities for collaboration - particularly regarding the ground segment and future data validation activities.
DIEGOSat has a 800 km swath width and 11 spectral bands spanning the visible to near-infrared mid-wave infrared, and long-wave infrared regions. The thermal sensor system is actively cooled and incorporates an onboard blackbody reference for continuous in-flight calibration, enabling a radiometric accuracy of 0.5 K and a ground sampling distance of 60 meters.
Due to its ISS-like orbit, DIEGOSat will provide multi-temporal observations, enabling the retrieval of key parameters such as land surface temperature, sea surface temperature, fire radiative power, and evapotranspiration during both diurnal and nocturnal periods. Although the mission’s orbital configuration precludes coverage of high latitudes (> 60° N/S), it will offer up to three overpasses per day in mid-latitude regions.