EO4WIND
Earth Observation for
Renewable Wind Energy

SPOT

Satellite Description

SPOT 6 (Satellite pour l’Observation de la Terre) is a commercial Earth-imaging satellite owned and operated by Airbus Defence and Space. It was launched on 9 September 2012 and remains operational. SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 identical satellites, form a constellation designed to provide continuity of high-resolution, wide-swath SPOT data up to 2023. Both satellites have drawn on technological and operational innovations conceived for the Pléiades constellation. It represents a source of broad-swath imagery in complement to the Pléiades Very High Resolution data. Users have access to 1.5 m colour imagery, to high quality ortho-images and to large area mosaics. SPOT 6 is part of ESA’s Third Party Missions Programme, in which ESA has an agreement with Airbus Defence and Space to distribute data products from the mission.

Observation Scenario Sensor Characteristics Spatial Resolution Temporal Resolution Data Products Archive Availability Data Continuity

•  Swath width: In simultaneous mode the swath is 120 km 2 and individual mode the swath is 60 km 2.

•  Orbit: Sun-synchronous

•  Inclination: 98.2°

•  Altitude: 694 km

High-resolution optical push broom imager

  • Panchromatic (Pan): 0.45 – 0.75 µm
  • Multispectral (MS):
  • Blue: 0.45 – 0.52 µm
  • Green: 0.53 – 0.60 µm
  • Red: 0.62 – 0.69 µm
  • Near-infrared: 0.76 – 0.89 µm

Ground sampling distance:

  • Panchromatic: 1.5 m at nadir
  • Multispectral: 6 m at nadir

• 1 day with SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 operating simultaneously

• Between 1 and 3 days with one satellite

SPOT 6 data collections consist of Very High Resolution (VHR) and High Resolution (HR) data products between 0 and 5 m and 5 and 20 m resolution, respectively, from the New Astrosat Optical Modular Instrument (NAOMI), processed to Level-1, Level-2 and Level-3. Products are available in panchromatic and multispectral band combinations with the following processing levels:

  • Primary: The Primary product is the processing level closest to the natural image acquired by the sensor. This product restores perfect collection conditions: the sensor is placed in rectilinear geometry, and the image is clear of all radiometric distortion.
  • Standard ortho: The Ortho product is a georeferenced image in Earth geometry, corrected from acquisition and terrain off-nadir effects.
  • Tailored Ortho: Aside from the Standard Ortho product, when different specifications are needed, a custom orthorectification, with a more precise 3D model provided by the client or acquired for the purpose, can be provided on demand.

ESA is offering access to the full SPOT 6 archive for scientific research and application development. Access is only available to submitted proposals that are accepted. As many as possible of the high-quality and innovative proposals submitted will be supported within the quota limit available, therefore, only a limited amount of products can be made available to each project.

ESA offers registered users access through the Online Dissemination server to the SPOT 6 and 7 ESA archive. The dataset consists of coverage that ESA has collected during this mission and the dataset continues to grow as new products are added.

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