SPOT (french: Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre,
lit. "Satellite for observation of Earth") is a commercial high-resolution optical
Earth imaging satellite
An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...
system operating from space. It is run by
Spot Image
Spot Image, a public limited company created in 1982 by the French Space Agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the IGN, and Space Manufacturers (Matra, Alcatel, SSC, etc.) is a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space (99%). The comp ...
, based in
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
, France. It was initiated by the
CNES
The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...
(''Centre national d'études spatiales'' – the French space agency) in the 1970s and was developed in association with the SSTC (Belgian scientific, technical and cultural services) and the
Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). It has been designed to improve the knowledge and management of
the Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...
by exploring the Earth's resources, detecting and forecasting phenomena involving climatology and oceanography, and monitoring human activities and natural phenomena. The SPOT system includes a series of satellites and ground control resources for satellite control and programming, image production, and distribution. Earlier satellites were launched using the
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
's Ariane 2, 3, and 4 rockets, while SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 were launched by the
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
PSLV
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...
.
List of satellites
SPOT Image is marketing the high-resolution images, which SPOT can take from every corner of the Earth.
* SPOT 1 launched February 22, 1986 with 10
panchromatic and 20 meter multispectral picture resolution capability. Withdrawn December 31, 1990.
* SPOT 2 launched January 22, 1990 and deorbited in July 2009.
* SPOT 3 launched September 26, 1993. Stopped functioning November 14, 1997.
* SPOT 4 launched March 24, 1998. Stopped functioning July, 2013.
* SPOT 5 launched May 4, 2002 with 2.5 m, 5 m and 10 m capability. Stopped functioning March 31, 2015.
* SPOT 6 launched September 9, 2012.
*
SPOT 7
SPOT (french: Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, lit. "Satellite for observation of Earth") is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth imaging satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. ...
(Azersky) launched on June 30, 2014.
Orbit
The SPOT orbit is
polar
Polar may refer to:
Geography
Polar may refer to:
* Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates
* Polar climate, the c ...
,
circular
Circular may refer to:
* The shape of a circle
* ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega
* Circular letter (disambiguation)
** Flyer (pamphlet), a form of advertisement
* Circular reasoning, a type of logical fallacy
* Circula ...
,
sun-synchronous, and
phased. The inclination of the orbital plane combined with the rotation of the Earth around the polar axis allows the satellite to fly over any point on Earth within 26 days. The orbit has an altitude of 832 kilometers, an inclination of 98.7°, and completing 14 + 5/26 revolutions per day.
Generations
SPOT 1, 2, and 3 4
Since 1986 the SPOT family of satellites has been orbiting the Earth and has already taken more than 10 million high quality images. SPOT 1 was launched with the last
Ariane 1
Ariane 1 was the first rocket in the Ariane family of expendable launch systems. It was developed and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), which had been formed in 1973, the same year that development of the launcher had commenced.
A ...
rocket on February 22, 1986. Two days later, the 1800 kg SPOT 1 transmitted its first image with a spatial resolution of 10 or 20 meters. SPOT 2 joined SPOT 1 in orbit on January 22, 1990, on the
Ariane 4
The Ariane 4 was a European expendable space launch system, developed by the '' Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Ari ...
maiden flight, and SPOT 3 followed on September 26, 1993, also on an Ariane 4.
The satellite loads were identical, each including two identical HRV (High Resolution Visible) imaging instruments that were able to operate in two modes, either simultaneously or individually. The two spectral modes are panchromatic and multispectral. The panchromatic band has a resolution of 10 meters, and the three multispectral bands (G, R, NIR) have resolutions of 20 metres. They have a scene size of 3600 km
2 and a revisit interval of one to four days, depending on the latitude.
Because the orbit of SPOT 1 was lowered in 2003, it will gradually lose altitude and break up naturally in the atmosphere. Deorbiting of SPOT 2, in accordance with IADC (
Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) is an inter-governmental forum whose aim is to co-ordinate efforts to deal with debris in orbit around the Earth founded in 1993.
Members
* Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
* Centre Nat ...
), commenced in mid-July 2009 for a period of two weeks, with a final burn on 29 July 2009. SPOT 3 is no longer functioning, due to problems with its stabilization system.
SPOT 4
SPOT 4 launched March 24, 1998 and stopped functioning July, 2013. In 2013, CNES lowered the altitude of SPOT 4 by 2.5 km to put it on a phased orbit with a five-day repeat cycle. On this orbit, SPOT4 was programmed to acquire a time-lapse series of images over 42 sites with a five days revisit period from February to end of May 2013. The data set it produced is aimed at helping future users of the
Sentinel-2
Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission from the Copernicus Programme that systematically acquires optical imagery at high spatial resolution (10 m to 60 m) over land and coastal waters. The mission is currently a constellation with two satel ...
mission to learn working with time-lapse series. The time-lapse series provided by SPOT4 (Take5) have the same repetitiveness as those that will be delivered by the Sentinel-2 satellites, starting in 2015 and 2016.
SPOT 5
SPOT 5 was launched on May 4, 2002, and has the goal to ensure continuity of services for customers and to improve the quality of data and images by anticipating changes in market requirements.
SPOT 5 has two high resolution geometrical (HRG) instruments that were deduced from the HRVIR of SPOT 4. They offer a higher resolution of 2.5 to 5 meters in panchromatic mode and 10 meters in multispectral mode (20 metre on short wave infrared 1.58 – 1.75 µm). SPOT 5 also features an HRS imaging instrument operating in panchromatic mode. HRS points forward and backward of the satellite. Thus, it is able to take stereopair images almost simultaneously to map relief.
SPOT 6 and SPOT 7
SPOT 6 was launched by India's
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...
on flight C21
at 04:23 UTC on 9 September 2012, while
SPOT 7
SPOT (french: Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre, lit. "Satellite for observation of Earth") is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth imaging satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. ...
was launched on PSLV flight C23
at 04:42 UTC on 30 June 2014. They form a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites designed to provide continuity of high-resolution, wide-swath data up to 2024.
EADS Astrium
Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 1 ...
took the decision to build this constellation in 2009 on the basis of a perceived government need for this kind of data.
Spot Image
Spot Image, a public limited company created in 1982 by the French Space Agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the IGN, and Space Manufacturers (Matra, Alcatel, SSC, etc.) is a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space (99%). The comp ...
, a subsidiary of Astrium, funded the satellites alone and owned the system (satellites and ground segments) at time of launch. In December 2014, SPOT 7 was sold to
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
's space agency Azercosmos, who renamed it ''
Azersky
Azersky is an Earth observation satellite with a high-resolution of 1.5 m. It is Azerbaijan's first Earth observation satellite. It was launched into orbit in June 2014.
The satellite was originally named SPOT 7 and developed by Airbus Defence an ...
''.
*The architecture is similar to that of the
Pleiades satellites
The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of ...
, with a centrally mounted optical instrument, a three-axis
star tracker
A star tracker is an optical device that measures the positions of stars using photocells or a camera.
As the positions of many stars have been measured by astronomers to a high degree of accuracy, a star tracker on a satellite or spacecraft may ...
, a fiber-optic gyro (FOG) and four control moment gyros (CMGs).
*SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 are phased in the same orbit as Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B at an altitude of 694 km, forming a constellation of 2-by-2 satellites - 90° apart from one another.
*Image product resolution:
**Panchromatic: 1.5 m
**Colour merge: 1.5 m
**Multi-spectral: 6 m
*Spectral bands, with simultaneous panchromatic and multi-spectral acquisitions:
**
Panchromatic (450 – 745 nm)
**Blue (450 – 525 nm)
**Green (530 – 590 nm)
**Red (625 – 695 nm)
**
Near-infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...
(760 – 890 nm)
*Footprint: 60 km × 60 km
*Responsive satellite tasking, with six tasking plans per day, per satellite
*Capacity to acquire up to 3 million km
2 daily
References
External links
Astrium Geo Official Web siteCNES (Centre National d'Etudes spatiales) official siteVegetation image processing and archiving centre at VITOSPOT Vegetation programme Web pageSPOT4 (Take 5) experimentSPOT World Heritage, SPOT scenes archive catalog from 1986 to 2015.
{{Authority control
CNES
Earth observation satellites of France
Satellite series
Earth imaging satellites