SPOT 6 was launched by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on flight C21[2] at 04:23 UTC on 9 September 2012, while SPOT 7 was launched on PSLV flight C23[3] at 04:42 UTC on 30 June 2014. They form a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites designed to provide continuity of high-resolution, wide-swath data up to 2024. EADS Astrium took the decision to build this constellation in 2009 on the basis of a perceived government need for this kind of data. Spot Image, a subsidiary of Astrium, is funding the satellites alone and owns the system (satellites and ground segments).
The architecture is similar to that of the Pleiades satellites, with a centrally mounted optical instrument, a three-axis star tracker, a fibre-optic gyro (FOG) and four control moment gyros (CMGs).
SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will be phased in the same orbit as Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B at an altitude of 694 km.
Image product resolution:
Panchromatic: 1.5 m
Colour merge: 1.5 m
Multispectral: 6 m
Spectral bands, with simultaneous panchromatic and multispectral acquisitions:
Panchromatic (450 – 745 nm)
Blue (450 – 525 nm)
Green (530 – 590 nm)
Red (625 – 695 nm)
Near-infrared (760 – 890 nm)
Footprint: 60 km × 60 km
Responsive satellite tasking, with six tasking plans per day, per satellite
Capacity to acquire up to 3 million km2 daily