SPOT 6 – Commercial start of Operations

As we mentioned in a previous blogpost, SPOT 6 is right on track continuing SPOT legacy of uniqueness and excellence. Astrium has declared the commercial start of operations by next week. Below is what the user can expect from the SPOT 6 imagery.

• The architecture is similar to that of the Pleiades satellites, with a centrally mounted optical instrument, a three-axis star tracker, a fibre-optic gyro (FOG) and four control moment gyros (CMGs).
• SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will be phased in the same orbit as Pléiades 1 and Pléiades 2 at an altitude of 694 km.
• Image product resolution:Footprint: 60 km x 60 km
  • Panchromatic: 1.5 m
  • Colour merge: 1.5 m
  • Multispectral: 6 m
• Responsive satellite tasking, with 6 tasking plans per day, per satellite
• Capacity to acquire up to 3 million km2. daily

This image by SPOT 6 sensor shows Heron islands located off the coast of Australia. SPOT 6 sensor provides satellite images at 1.5m resolution. Image Credit: Astrium

 

Other Features:

SPOT 6 will provide Mono, Stereo and Tristereo tasking options. Minimum area for archive purchase is 250 sqkm. Processing levels available are similar to that of Pleiades sensors. These are Primary and Ortho.

For more information about SPOT 6 please visit the SPOT 6 product page.

 

We leave you with a beautiful montage of SPOT 6 images collected while in commissioning phase: