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.
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:
The obtained high-resolution data can be applied in: