SPOT 6&7 Satellite Images

The SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 satellites were designed to continue SPOT-5 mission in obtaining wide-swath high-resolution imagery. The construction was initiated by Spot Image of Toulouse (France), and EADS Astrium in 2008, and officially announced in mid 2009, by Astrium Services’ CEO Eric Beranger. The SPOT 6 was successfully launched on September 9, 2012 by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and was followed by SPOT 7 on June 30, 2014.

Spot 6&7 Characteristics

Characteristic	Description
Optical System	Two identical Korsch telescopes, with a 200mm aperture each to deliver the expected swath.
Detectors	PAN array assembly: 28,000 pixels MS array assembly: 4 x 7000 pixels
Spectral bands	Panchromatic: 0.450-0.745μm Blue: 0.450-0.520μm Green: 0.530-0.590μm Red: 0.625-0.695μm Near-infrared: 0.760-0.890μm All the five bands are obtained at the same time
Swath	60 km at Nadir
Dynamic range at acquisition	12 bits per pixel
Location accuracy specification	35m CE 90 without GCP within a 30° viewing angle cone 10m CE90 for Ortho products where Reference3D is available
Instrument telemetry link rate	X-band channel – 300 Mbits/s

The constellation includes two Earth observation optical satellites designed to provide data till 2023. They are fitted out with two New AstroSat Optical Modular Instruments (NAOMI), represented by high-resolution pushbroom imagers and are based on Korsch-type telescope technology. Along with Reference 3D’s high location accuracy, the technology allows users to obtain high quality ortho images as well as broad-swath satellite imagery as a complementary to the Pléiades Very High Resolution data. SPOT 6 & SPOT 7 operate in the same orbit with Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B forming 4-satellites constellation.

SPOT-6 and SPOT-7 technical performance was successfully enhanced with the experience of SPOT-5 in order to:

Maintain a high level coverage capability by capturing bandwidth of 60 km and up to 120 km (from…to) in one pass mosaic
Provide orthoimagery at 1.5 m spatial resolution
Obtain native natural color images by adding a blue near infrared band
Collect images of both large areas and small objects: 3 million km2 for each satellite per day
Support responsive tasking: up to 6 program plans for each satellite per day to get cloud-free imagery
Get images of vegetation for agricultural management due to added near infrared spectral band (B3)
Provide the option of daily revisit
Make the data applicable for geographical modeling due to radiometric and geometric specifications
Maintain a prolonged lifetime of a satellite up to 10 years
Acquire panchromatic and multi-spectral images to generate color products automatically
Get stereoscopic imagery along the track

The obtained high-resolution data can be applied in:

Maps design and update with available scale of up to 1:25 000
Creation of digital terrain model with 5-10 meters accuracy
Physical verification and monitoring of large construction objects like airfields, onshore pipelines, barrages
Control of ecological state within the areas of oil and gas extraction, well site constructions and oil transportation
Urban infrastructure development: roads planning, new districts mapping, civil engineering, housing construction
Forest surveyance and management, control over deforestation, logging and woodworking activities
Agricultural land use observation, land inventory, yields control, crop diseases exposure and pest management, land productivity forecasting, weed infestation definition
Monitoring, forecasting and prevention of desertification, bog formation, salification and soil erosion
Obviation of wildfires and assistance in fire suppression activities