3 days after being orbited, SPOT 6 has delivered its first images; continuity and innovation assured in high-resolution, wide-area imagery
Toulouse, France – 13 September 2012 – Astrium Services has posted the first images from the SPOT 6 satellite, just 3 days after its launch on 9 September.
SPOT 6 will assure continuity of data from the series of satellites operating since 1986, along with many technological innovations. Its unique responsiveness and acquisition capacity are set to benefit a broad spectrum of operational applications.
These first images present very varied landscapes, highlighting SPOT 6’s potential for applications like urban and natural resource mapping or agricultural and environmental monitoring. The wide imaging swath (60km), identical to that of the other SPOT satellites, makes SPOT 6 an ideal tool for covering vast territories, while its 1.5m resolution – against 2.5m on SPOT 5 – enables it to distinguish smaller features than ever before.
To post the images, all operational systems swung smoothly into action, from satellite tasking to image acquisition, reception and processing.
In January 2014, the arrival of SPOT 7 will bring more new services including daily revisits. Together, the SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 constellation will assure continued availability of high-resolution, wide-area products through to 2024.
The first SPOT 6 images can be viewed in the image gallery on Astrium GEO-Information Services’ website and subscenes can be downloaded via FTP.
The FTP address for downloading is: ftp://ftp.astrium-geo.com/spot6/
For more information about SPOT 6, see www.astrium-geo.com/
About Astrium
Through its GEO-Information business, Astrium Services is recognized as one of the leaders in the geo-spatial information market, not least thanks to the now fully integrated skills and resources of the former Spot Image and Infoterra. The company provides decision-makers with complete solutions enabling them to increase security, boost agricultural performance, maximize oil & gas or mining operations, improve their management of natural resources, and protect the environment. It has exclusive access to data from the SPOT, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and Pléiades satellites, coupled with a complete range of space-based data sources and airborne acquisition capability allowing it to offer an unrivalled scope of Earth observation products and services. This extensive portfolio covers the entire geo-information supply chain, from the generation of images to the provision of high added-value information to end-users. By leveraging the synergies and expertise available across the whole of Astrium Services, its GEO-Information teams develop innovative, yet competitive, custom-made solutions based on the combination and integration of Earth observation, navigation and high-end telecommunications.