Friday, January 09, 2009

Spot

IOC: 1986
Total Production: 5

Spot 5

IOC: 2002
Production: 1

Origin
France

Description: The Spot satellites have been designed to provide wide area 3D imagery for either military and commercial customers. The program was launched in 1978 with the Spot 1 satellite put into orbit in 1986. Subsequently Spot 2 was put into orbit in 1990, Spot 3 in 1993, Spot 4 in 1998 and the Spot 5 in May 2002. In addition to France, Spot satellites imagery has been supplied to Belgium and Sweden.

Spot 1 to 4 were limited to cover areas not exceeding 60 km long. On the other hand, Spot 5 can cover larger areas up to120km long. According to French military data, the Spot 4 satellite would require 150 going-over to scan the territory of Afghanistan, while Spot 5 can do the same task with 10 going-over.

The Spot 5 High Resolution Stereoscopic Sensor HRS can take two pictures near simultaneously covering an area of 120x600 kilometers. The HRS can take pictures from two different observation angles shifted only a few seconds. These two pictures are combined to generate a high resolution 3D terrain imagery.

In addition to the HRS sensor, the HRG sensor can take pictures with 2.5 meters resolution processing 5 of them simultaneously. An stellar sensor coupled to the Doris navigation subsystem permits Spot 5 to aim its sensor package to specified zones with less than 50 meters error.

High Resolution 3D imagery supplied by Spot 5 satellite is being used by French armed forces to improve navigation of UAVs, airplanes and cruise missiles. Spot 5 is slated to provide up to 50 million square kilometers high resolution 3D along its entire service life.

Specifications
Performance: Service Life 5 yr

Operators

see operators map

Belgium

France

Sweden

Notes
(*) lead contractor
IOC: Initial Operating Capability
FOC: Full Operating Capability
CEP: Circular Error Probable
Comm: Commissioning Date
Meters (m) Kilometers (km) Nautic Miles (nm) Inch (in) Yard (yd) Foot (ft) Millimeter (mm)
Pound (lb) Kilogram (kg) kN (KiloNewton) Ton (t)
Meters per Second (mps) Kilometers per Hour (kph) Knot (kt) Miles per Hour (mph)
Liter (l) Galon (gl)
Year (yr) Minutes (min) Second (sec)
Shaft-Horse-Power (shp)

Last Updated: Saturday, December 20, 2008

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