Back SPOT 1 TO 5 SATELLITES

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • Temporal frequency or revisit frequency: 2-3 days
  • Orbit: quasi polar orbit, circular and sun-synchronous
  • Local hour at equator 10h30 (descending orbit)
  • Altitude: 832 km
  • Revolution period: 101 minutes
  • Cycle time: 26 days (full coverage of the earth in 369 revolutions)
  • Scenes footprint: 60 km x 60 km (120 km swath with SPOT-5 HRS mode)

1ST GENERATION: SPOT-1, 2, 3

Image resolution from HRV instrument (Haute Résolution Visible): 2 instruments per satellite HRV1 and HRV2

  • 10 m panchromatic (channel covering visible area: 0.50–0.73 µm)
  • 20 m multispectral:
    • Band 1: green (0.50–0.59 µm)
    • Band 2: red (0.61–0.68 µm)
    • Band 3: near infrared (0.78–0.89 µm)

Periods of satellite activity:

  • SPOT-1, launch 22/02/1986 – end of service 2003
  • SPOT-2, launch 22/01/1990 – end of service 2009
  • SPOT-3, launch 26/09/1993 – end of service 1996

2ND GENERATION SPOT-4

Image resolution from HRVIR instrument (Haute Résolution Visible et Infra-Rouge): 2 instruments per satellite HRVIR1 and HRVIR2:

  • 10 m panchromatic (0.51-0.73 µm)
  • 20 m multispectral:
    • Band 1: green (0.50–0.59 µm)
    • Band 2: red (0.61–0.68 µm)
    • Band 3: near infrared (0.78–0.89 µm)
    • Band 4: middle infrared (MIR) (1.58–1.75 µm)

Periods of satellite activity:

  • SPOT-4, launch 23/03/1998 – end of service 05/2013

3ÈME GENERATION SPOT-5

Image resolution from HRG instrument (Haute Résolution Géométrique): 2 instruments HRG1 and HRG2.

One instrument dedicated to stereoscopic views: HRS (Haute Résolution Stéréoscopique)

The innovation of SPOT-5 is the introduction of THR super-Mode (Très Haute Résolution géométrique) that allows the creation of an image at 2,5 m resolution from 2 images at 5 m acquired simultaneously with a half-pixel shift. Their combination is done by advanced image processing chains.

  • 2,5 m panchromatic super-mode (0.48–0.71 µm)
  • 5 m panchromatic (0.48–0.71 µm)
  • 10 m multispectral:
    • Band 1: green (0.50–0.59 µm)
    • Band 2: red (0.61–0.68 µm)
    • Band 3: near infrared (0.78–0.89 µm)
    • Band 4: middle infrared (MIR) (1.58–1.75 µm) at 20 m

Periods of satellite activity:

  • SPOT-5, launch 03/05/2002 – end of service 2015