SPOT High Resolution Visible Data

The SPOT Program supports commercial remote sensing on an international scale,
establishing a global network of control centers, receiving stations,
processing centers, and data distributors. The French space agency, Centre
National d' Etudes Spatiales (CNES), owns and operates the SPOT satellite
system while worldwide commercial operations are anchored by private companies
(i.e., SPOT IMAGE Corporation in the United States, SPOT IMAGE in France,
SATIMAGE in Sweden, and distributors in over 40 countries).

The SPOT-1 satellite was launched on February 22, 1986, and decommissioned on
December 31, 1990. The SPOT-2 satellite was launched on January 22, 1990, and
the SPOT-3 satellite was launched on September 26, 1993. It is anticipated
that the SPOT-4 satellite will launch late in 1997 while the SPOT-5 satellite
has an anticipated 2001 launch date.

The SPOT satellites carry two High Resolution Visible (HRV) sensors, two high
density tape recorders, and a telemetry transmitter. The HRVs, constructed
with multilinear array detectors, operate in a cross-track direction.
Operating independently of each other, the two HRVs acquire imagery in either
multispectral and/or panchromatic modes at any viewing angle within plus or
minus 27 degrees. This off-nadir viewing enables the acquisition of
stereoscopic imagery.

Spectral Range and Spatial Resolution:

-Multispectral (XS)
Band / Micrometers / Resolution /
1 / 0.50-0.59 micrometers / 20 meters
2 / 0.61-0.68 micrometers / 20 meters
3 / 0.79-0.89 micrometers / 20 meters
-Panchromatic (P)
Band / Micrometers / Resolution /
N/A / 0.51-0.73 micrometers / 10 meters