Acquisition capacity
Image processing capacity has been greatly increased-from two images maximum on SPOT 4 to five on SPOT 5-and flexibility considerably enhanced, since processing channels are managed independently of one another. SPOT 5 stores three images in memory and sends two images directly to ground receiving stations. A solid-state memory has also replaced magnetic tape recorders to enable more efficient use of capacity, since images are now managed as files.

 

HRG swath
Each HRG instrument has a field of view of 4° and observes a ground swath of 60 kilometres. The instruments can also be pointed 27° either side of the vertical for oblique viewing. Like on SPOT 4, the two instruments generally operate independently to observe separate targets, but they can also view in tandem to cover a 120-kilometre swath in a single pass.
The HRG instruments' oblique viewing capability means that SPOT 5, like its predecessors, can acquire imagery of any point on the globe within less than five days, or even in less than three days at temperate latitudes.


HRG imaging swath

 

HRS swath
Each of the HRS instrument's cameras has a field of view of 8° and observes a swath of 120 kilometres centred on the satellite ground track. The front camera points 20° ahead of the nadir and the rear camera 20° behind. The maximum scene length in stereo imaging mode is thus 600 kilometres. HRS does not have an oblique viewing capability, so its revisit cycle is 26 days at the Equator.

HRS swath

 

HRG-HRS imaging sequence: video (1,11 Mb)
The two instruments view independently (yellow: front HRS camera; ochre: rear HRS camera; green: HRG 1; red: HRG 2).


HRG imaging sequence: video (419 kb)
HRG1 and HRG2 view in tandem to cover a ground swath of 120 kilometres.



VEGETATION swath
The VEGETATION instrument's wide field of view results in a ground swath of 2,250 kilometres, giving it the ability to cover almost all the globe's landmasses every day. It covers equatorial zones below 30° latitude four days out of five, and zones above 30° latitude at least twice daily.


VEGETATION swath

 


7 days of VEGETATION imagery (animation)