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)