Sovremennye problemy distantsionnogo zondirovaniya Zemli iz kosmosa, 2025, V. 22, No. 6, pp. 137-150
Radiometric and geometric characteristics of the KMSS-2 multispectral satellite imaging system on board Meteor-M No. 2-4 satellite
T.V. Kondratieva
1 , B.S. Zhukov
1 , A.V. Nikitin
1 , I.V. Polyanskiy
1 1 Space Research Institute RAS, Moscow, Russia
Accepted: 04.12.2025
DOI: 10.21046/2070-7401-2025-22-6-137-150
The KMSS-2 medium spatial resolution multispectral satellite imaging system on board the Meteor-M No. 2-4 satellite was transferred to regular operation following successful completion of flight tests in September 2024. KMSS-2 includes two MSU-100TM multispectral imaging devices, which form an image of the Earth surface at a swath of more than 1000 km with a spatial resolution better than 60 m. The paper presents the evaluation results of the KMSS-2 geometric and radiometric characteristics obtained in 2025 during in-flight calibrations. A catalog of control points along the coastlines of the Black, Mediterranean, and Baltic Seas, created using data obtained from the Sentinel-2 MSI (Multispectral Imager) instrument, was used for geometric calibration. As a result, the geometric parameters of the KMSS-M cameras and the parameters linking their reference systems to the reference system of star sensors were calibrated, allowing for geographic referencing of KMSS-2 images with a root-mean-square error of about 60 m. The sensitivity distribution of the elementary detectors of the linear CCD (charge-coupled device) arrays was calibrated over the homogeneous snowfields of Antarctica. The calibration results were verified by comparing the average spectral reflectance of test sites in Antarctica and in the Karakum desert, obtained from KMSS-2 and from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) aboard the Aqua satellite. It was found that the discrepancy between reflectance values from the KMSS-2 and MODIS data does not exceed 3.5 %. It is planned to repeat the in-flight KMSS-2 geometric and radiometric calibration annually.
Keywords: KMSS-2, MSU, remote sensing of the Earth, hydrometeorology, multispectral imaging, Meteor-M, MODIS
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