2. AN ORIGINAL CONSTELLATION 
Indeed, with 3 new satellites set to launch until 2013 to 
complement Pleiades 1, all users can benefit from the very best 
that space technology has to offer. The 4 satellites will operate 
as a true constellation, combining a twice-daily revisit 
capability with an smart range of resolutions. 
The twin Pléiades are a couple of very high resolution satellites 
delivering 50-cm ortho color products as a standard. The two 
other brothers are SPOT-6 and 7, meant to extend SPOT-5's 
success in the 1.5 m product-resolution family. 
Phased on the same orbit, the constellation will enjoy 
unprecedented reactivity, with intra-day revisit capacity 
anywhere on the Earth. Multiple tasking plans per day result in 
an unrivalled optimization of data collection: even chaotic 
weather changes as well as last-minute requests can be taken 
into account for a first-class level of service. 
Furthermore, the constellation will bear an unheard-of 
complementarities. SPOT-6 and 7 are perfectly suited for any 
kind of applications requiring broad coverage (60 km swath), 
whereas Pléiades affords the largest swath in the submetric 
market (20 km at nadir), ensuring to all users a maximized 
coverage as well as easier data processing and handling. 
3. A MASSIVE COLLECTION CAPABILITY 
3.1 Agility means Accessibility and Revisit 
Instead of “classical” gyros, the 4 satellites are equipped with 
CMG for state-of-the-art agility, enabling to fulfill more 
simultaneous requests in the same pass. The Pléiades satellites’ 
gyros enable them to tilt very quickly along and across track to 
image different areas of interest. 
Each satellite is able to collect imagery anywhere within an 
800-km-wide ground strip, covering 200 kilometres in 11 
seconds or 800 kilometres in 25 seconds, including stabilization 
time. 
  
Figure 2 — Illustration of CMG's effect on collection capability 
3.2 Accessibility means Acquisition capacity 
With an acquisition capacity reaching more than 1 million 
square kilometers per day and per satellite for Pléiades, and 
simultaneously 2.5 million square kilometers for SPOT-6 & 7, 
the constellation will provide unprecedented capability of 
serving the needs of customers worldwide. 
548 
3.3 Specific collection modes tailored for applications 
The agility thus allows imaging multiple targets (typically 15 
targets over 1,000 km within a corridor of +/-30 degrees). 
To answer mapping and monitoring needs over large areas, 
Pléiades is also able to collect large mosaics in a single pass, 
more than 100 x 100 km from (within a 30° incidence angle), as 
shown in Figure 3 below. 
  
Figure 3 — Single-pass Pléiades collection imaging a 1° x 1° 
geocell over Chad (purple frame) on Feb 10", 2012. 
Both Pléiades and SPOT-6&7 satellites can also collect stereo 
and tri-stereo data for 3D applications. Beyond this, multi-stereo 
is also on the menu: Pléiades 1 recently collected 17 images 
over the city of Melbourne within a single pass, thus enabling a 
new area of applications (monitoring of the speed of vehicles, 
true ortho processing,...). 
For coastal, border or river drains surveillance, the “corridor” 
tasking mode can be activated, to minimize the collection time 
and ensure a simultaneous capture over all the AOI. 
Acquisition 
" 
  
Figure 4 Illustration of the “corridor mode” 
For the user, this simply means a reduced average acquisition 
time window to collect his/her AOI, and a better homogeneity 
and a better consistency within adjacent images (through a 
larger simultaneity). 
4. REACTIVITY AT HAND 
4.1 Reactivity also means increased efficiency 
The ground operations component is organized with maximum 
responsiveness in mind. 
Pléiades work plans are uploaded to the satellite 3 times a day 
from 3 different points around the globe: the Kerguelen Islands 
for morning passes, the best time to upload tasking commands 
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