Revisit Time

Revisit time (or temporal resolution) is how frequently a satellite or constellation can acquire a new image of the same location on Earth. It depends on the number of satellites, their orbital altitude, inclination, and the sensor's off-nadir pointing capability (agility). A single satellite in SSO at 700 km might have a nadir revisit of 16 days but can tilt sideways to image off-nadir, reducing effective revisit to 1–3 days. Constellations multiply coverage: Planet's 200 Dove satellites achieve daily global imaging at 3–5 m resolution. For change detection (deforestation, construction, disasters), frequent revisit is often more valuable than high resolution.