SPOT 6 and SPOT 7
SPOT 6 was launched on September 9, 2012 while SPOT 7 proposed launch is in the year of 2013. They form a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites designed to provide continuity of high-resolution, wide-swath data up to 2023. EADS Astrium took the decision to build this constellation in 2009 on the basis of a perceived government need for this kind of data. Spot Image, a subsidiary of Astrium, is funding the satellites alone and owns the system (satellites and ground segments).
- 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:
- Panchromatic: 1.5 m
- Colour merge: 1.5 m
- Multispectral: 8 m
- Spectral bands, with simultaneous panchromatic and multispectral acquisitions:
- Panchromatic (450 – 745 nm)
- Blue (450 – 525 nm)
- Green (530 – 590 nm)
- Red (625 – 695 nm)
- Near-infrared (760 – 890 nm)
- Footprint: 60 km x 60 km
- Responsive satellite tasking, with 6 tasking plans per day, per satellite
- Capacity to acquire up to 3 million km2. daily
Spot-6 was Successfully launched by India's PSLV-C21 mission on 9th Sept. 2012 at 9:53 am (lift-off).
Read more about this topic: SPOT (satellite)
Famous quotes containing the word spot:
“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)