Ideal match of detail and coveragespot 5 is a clear commercial success because it offers deci-sion-makers the kind of geospatial information they are loo-king for. “SPOT 5 provides the best trade-off between coverage and resolution,” says spot Image’s Director of strategy manuel Lagarde. “The balance is just right between the level of informa-tion obtained and the cost to the user. So, we naturally thought long and hard about how to continue delivering the service our customers have come to expect.”this was the brief underpinning the design of spot 6 and spot 7. an in-depth market survey and careful canvassing to ascertain users’ expectations were conducted to keep the best features of spot 5 while optimizing certain specifica-tions. the resulting constellation retains a 60-kilometre swath

but with improved resolution of two metres and a daily acqui-sition capacity of six million square kilometres.the twin pléiades satellites tie into this vision, adding local de-tail to the synoptic picture from spot. automatically ortho-rectified 50-centimetre pléaides colour products will provide more precise data for a wealth of applications and areas of interest. “The Pléaides satellites have the widest imaging swath in their class,” says pléaides Business Development manager Christophe Hutin. “And both systems’ great agility enables them to acquire up to one square degree (100 km by 100 km) in a single pass. In total, Pléiades 1 & 2 will add one million squa-re kilometres every day in acquisition capacity to Spot Image’s constellation of satellites.”

SPOT magazine #48 / 1st semester 2010 8>

Re-inventing the

WITH FOuR NeW SATellITeS —PléIADeS 1 & 2 AND SPOT 6 & 7—SeT TO lAuNCH OveR

THe NexT FOuR YeARS, SPOT IMAGe IS GeARING uP TO bRING ITS CuSTOMeRS THe veRY

beST THAT SPACe TeCHNOlOGY HAS TO OFFeR. eNSuRING CONTINuITY OF SeRvICe uP TO

2023, THeSe SATellITeS WIll OPeRATe AS A TRue CONSTellATION, COMbINING A TWICe-

DAIlY RevISIT CAPAbIlITY WITH AN INGeNIOuS RANGe OF ReSOluTIONS.

constellation

2010 / Pléiades 1Spot Image affirms its position in the very-high-resolution market.

2011 / Pléiades 2VHR acquisition capacity doubled, global daily revisit capability.

2012 / SPot 6Continued large-area coverage, SPot 5 high quality guaranteed.

2013 / SPot 7Spot Image deploys full-up constellation, with a 12-hour revisit interval and the capacity to acquire more than 7 million sq.km. every day.

cOnSTEllaTiOn PléiadES + SPOT

Source Spot Image

1st semester 2010 / SPOT magazine # 48<9

Data product combinations are receiving the same level of at-tention. marketing teams are working on a multilayer version of the bestselling spotmaps product, mixing and matching dates and resolutions. this will mean nationwide mosaics available off the shelf in two-metre orthorectified colour, with additional VHR mosaics where finer detail is required. as for digital elevation models, the four satellites’ stereo and tri-ste-reo viewing capability obviously promises to up performance levels. “SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will extend the more than one mil-lion square kilometres of stereopair coverage already acquired by SPOT 5,” enthuses Vanessa Casals, 3D product manager. “And the two Pléiades satellites, operating with Tandem-X and TerraSAR-X, offer very interesting prospects for our line of Refe-rence3D products to serve a wide range of applications spanning high-accuracy orthorectified imagery to flight simulation.” plus the spotmonitoring product line, which will offer subscribers more frequent revisits, more sites monitored and finer detail.

Astrium Services CeO eric beranger officially announced funding for the SPOT 6 & 7 programme in June 2009. This is the first time in the remote-sensing industry that a satellite has been built with entirely private funds, proving Astrium Services’ and Spot Image’s belief in this market.The main systems for the two satellites are in development and integration of the optical instrument for SPOT 6 is already underway. After completion of mechanical and environmental testing, SPOT 6 is scheduled to launch in September 2012.The decision to go ahead with the Pléiades programme was taken after an in-depth survey of users’ evolving requirements. Drawing on the vast experience of the French space agency CNeS in earth observation, a cooperation programme was set up between France and Italy to develop ORFeO, a dual-use system of which the French Pléiades is the optical component.Pléiades 1 has been completed and delivered to CNeS, the prime contractor, by Astrium Satellites. It is currently in storage at Astrium, where it is waiting to be transported to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in readiness for launch. Pléiades 2 is being integrated at Astrium and began testing in April. Spot Image is the civil operator and exclusive distributor for Pléiades in France and worldwide.

Subscene of a 2.5-metre-resolution SPot 5 image (6,200 m x 6,200 m)

Subscene of a 50-cm simulated Pléiades product (1,200 m x 1,200 m)

Full-resolution subscene of a simulated Pléiades product (450 m x 450 m)

Poised for launch

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SPOT magazine #48 / 1st semester 2010 10>

The right information at the right timethe four satellites will be phased 90 degrees apart in the same orbit. this feature, coupled with the ability to view off track up to 30 or even 40 degrees, offers a twice-daily revisit capability to commercial and government customers. to make the most of this repeat imaging potential, the constellation will be tasked several times a day, making it possible to schedule requests up to two hours before each satellite pass. as a re-sult, the lead time between user tasking requests and actual image acquisition over areas of interest will be reduced to a minimum. this increased flexibility will also mean that the very latest weather forecasts can be taken into account, to collect imagery with as little cloud cover as possible. spot Image has also built up a worldwide network of par-tners. today, more than 40 receiving stations are distributing spot 2, spot 4 and spot 5 products, as well as data from FoRmosat-2, Kompsat-2 and Envisat. this decentralized organization guarantees exceptional responsiveness and local support around the globe. these advantages will obviously benefit future customers of pléiades 1 & 2 and spot 6 & 7. once downlinked to receiving stations, data from all four systems will be available through a single e-Business portal currently in development that will provide 24/7 access to the full range of spot Image products and services, including the archive catalogue, tasking and subscription services, as well as online geoinformation. “Innovative and intuitive Web tools will give partners and customers immediate access to the geospa-tial data solutions they need,” says Commercial Director Rob postma. Lastminute.prog is a perfect example. this is a high-end ser-vice designed to collect urgent fresh imagery. Users are free to post tasking requests and take full advantage of the res-ponsiveness offered by several work plans uploaded each day

Pléiades 2

SPot 7

Pléiades 1 SPot 6

to the four satellites. they simply log on and then key in their area of interest. the system indicates which satellite—pléiades 1, pléiades 2, spot 6 or spot 7—will be the first in position to image the area. they then task the satellite of their choice, the imagery is acquired, validated by the user and the product is generated and delivered. “This gives users real access to mul-tisatellite tasking, leaving them free to choose between resolution and speed of acquisition depending on their needs,” adds Rob postma. “From the satellites themselves to tools on the ground and operating concepts, every design choice has been driven by speed and ease of access to data.”

the consecutive launches of pléiades 1 & 2 and spot 6 & 7 signal a paradigm shift for spot Image. Now all set to enter the very-high-resolution market, the company is developing its role as a multisensor distributor and gearing up to operate a coherent, optimized multiresolution constellation that will deliver a higher level of service than ever before. J

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Pléiades tasking plans will be uploaded three times a day.

For SPOT 6 and SPOT 7, six tasking plans will be uploaded daily.

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