Revisit rates

The revisit rate in tasking refers to how often a sensor passes over a specific area to attempt to capture new imagery. The more frequent the revisit rate is, the higher the probability of the sensor successfully acquiring data over the requested AOI within the designated time frames.

The revisit rate is expressed as the number of attempts per unit of time that the sensor makes to try to capture data over a certain area. For example, if the revisit rate is stated as “2 times a day”, it means the sensor is able to make 2 attempts every day to capture data over a specific area, spanning its swath width.

Depending on the time sensitivity of your application, the revisit rate might be important for you to consider.

• If you have time-sensitive applications, such as monitoring dynamic environmental processes or natural disasters, consider ordering tasking collections with a more frequent revisit rate.
• If your application is less time-sensitive, such as monitoring long-term trends, consider other factors over revisit rate — for example, spatial resolution or cost.

The revisit rate is different from tasking acquisition time frames. The revisit rate is a fundamental metric that outlines the sensor’s technical capacity. The actual time it would take to capture all imagery for an order is assessed in a feasibility study and depends on the parameters you specified for your order.