operations. It is expected to be available in about five years. The Soviets are 
  
  
    
  
   
       
  
       
  
   
    
   
    
   
      
     
  
  
    
     
    
      
     
     
    
     
   
  
  
  
   
     
capabil 
also known to be developing a navigation satellite system similar to the GPS in vehicle 
the United States. test la 
operati 
The SPOT Programme expecte 
will be 
The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France is developing the Systeme 
Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT). This Spacecraft, shown in Figure 3, ESA is 
will be launcheed in October 1984 by the ESA Ariane expendable launch vehicle into lite, c 
a 98.79 inclination sun-synchronous orbit at 822 km altitude. Mission control, ice and 
data reception,and image Processing will be at Toulouse, France. inclina 
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PER SRORUISION COMPARTMENT ; 
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PAYLOAD 
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PLATFORM EZ oO 
ON-BOARD. 
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Figure 3.--The System Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) 
being developed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales in 
France will use a standard modular spacecraft and will carry two 
high resolution optical sensors. 
The payload will consist of two instruments called HRV (haute resolution visible) 
with reflective optics and CCD linear array detectors. A rotating mirror will 
permit a scene 60 km wide to be acquired by each instrument from areas up to 
475 km left or right of the spacecraft track as well as in the vertical. This 
arrangement permits side-to-side stereo data acquisition and more frequent looks 
at high priority areas. The instruments can operate in a three-band multispectral 
mode with 20m IFOV or in a panchromatic mode with 10m IFOV. There are two on- 
board tape recorders, each with capacity for 30 minutes of data. The transmission 
rate will be 25m bits/second in X-band for each of the two instruments. 
CNES has formed a commercial enterprise, Spotimage, which is responsible for 
negotiating with foreign receiving stations, which are currently anticipated in 
Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Upper Volta, India, Bangladesh and Australia, though all 
of those countries have not yet approved funds. Spotimage will also be responsi- 
ble for sales of both hard copy images and digital data to users outside France. 
A policy of open dissemination to all customers has been established. 
A SPOT-2 spacecraft will be available for launch in June 1985, and depending upon Fi 
the demonstrated utility and marketability of the data, SPOT-3 and SPOT-4 missions 
would provide data continuity well into the next decade. CNES also plans to con- 
figure the Toulouse ground station to receive TM data from Landsat-4. 
European Space Agency Programs The spa 
the gro 
Development of the Ariane expendable launch vehicle has been a principal concern the syn 
of ESA. Ariane-1 is capable of delivering a 1700 kg payload to geostationary Earthne 
transfer orbit. Further developments of the launch vehicle will increase the 1989-19 
348