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SPOT-2,4
SPOT Earth surface satellite observation system (Satellite Pour L’Observation de la Terre) is engineered by the National Space Agency of France in cooperation with Belgium and Sweden. SPOT includes a number of space-based and ground facilities intended for satellite control, data collection programming, data acquisition and image drawing. SpotImage Company (France) is an operator of the satellite.
SPOT-2 was launched on January 21, 1990 in sun-synchronous orbit at the height of 825 km. SPOT-4 spacecraft was launched on March 24, 1998 and placed in sun-synchronous orbit with altitude of 822 km.
In contrast to previous SPOT satellites, SPOT-4 has an additional short-wave infrared band which allows detecting surface type. SPOT-4 is also equipped with VEGETATION1 radiometer, jointly engineered by European Union, Belgium, Italy and Sweden. Estimated period in orbit is 5 years at least.
SPOT-2, 4 satellite imagery applications:
- Creation and refreshing of topographical maps and special plans up to 1:100000 scale.
- Refreshing of the topographical backdrops to other layers of mapping for the generation of metropolitan and constituent entities of the Federation region planning layouts.
- Forest using control and strategic monitoring of the forest health..
- Monitoring and forecasting of the crops.
- Ecological monitoring.
- Monitoring and forecasting of bogginess, desertification, solidification, karsts, erosion, forest and grass fires, flooding etc.
Basic characteristics:
Launch date: January 21, 1990 (SPOT-2); March 24, 1998 (SPOT-4) |
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Mode: |
Panchromatic |
Multispectral |
Vegetation 1 (SPOT-4) |
Spectral bands (mkm): |
0.50-0.73(SPOT-2) 0.61-0.68(SPOT-4) |
green: 0.50-0.59 red: 0.61-0.68 near IR: 0.78-0.89 middle IR: 1.58-1.75(only for SPOT-4) |
0.45-0.52 0.61-0.68 0.78-0.89 1.58-1.75 |
Spatial resolution |
10 m |
20 m |
1 km |
Swatch Width |
60 km (at nadir) |
60 km (at nadir) |
1000 km and 2000 km |
Radiometric resolution: |
8 bits per pixel |
8 bits per pixel |
10 bits per pixel |
Revisit time: |
GeoTIFF |
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Revisit time: |
26 days (at nadir) |
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