[SatNews] Now available is imagery captured by the recently-launched Pléiades satellite.

This 50cm optical satellite from Astrium has returned detailed images from various locations around the world. New sites include Dubai, Cairo, Tucson and Washington D.C. Pléiades products will be available for purchase starting in March of this year.

The Pléiades constellation provides very high-resolution optical products in record time, offering daily revisit to any point on the globe and acquisition capabilities tailored to meet the full spectrum of civil and military requirements.

Pléiades products supply detailed information about target areas and their surroundings: 50 cm resolution, color, orthorectified imagery
20 km ground footprint at nadir, up to 100 km x 100 km in strip mapping mode
4.5m location accuracy without ground control points (CE90 with refined ephemeris data)

These features make Pléiades products the ideal solution for precision mapping and photo interpretation. Plus, the Pléiades system is designed to deliver data very quickly for emergency response:

Phased orbits of the constellation’s satellites offer daily revisit to any point on the globe
Three satellite work plans a day ensure easy handling of last-minute tasking requests
An automated production system capable of generating 20 km x 20 km orthorectified images in just 30 minutes

The Pléiades constellation has the ability to acquire a maximum number of images, matching imaging modes closely to users’ needs:

Maximum acquisition capacity of 1 million sq. km per day, per satellite
Exceptional agility to maximize acquisitions of a specific area of interest
Five acquisition modes: Target, Strip Mapping, Tri-stereo, Corridor and Persistent Surveillance

The Pléiades program stems from the ORFEO cooperation agreements established in September 2001 by the French and Italian space agencies to develop a dual-use, Earth-imaging system offering sub-metric resolution. The two Pléiades satellites will operate in a phased orbit with SPOT 6 and SPOT 7, the successors to SPOT 5. This constellation of four satellites will provide an ideal combination of detail and coverage, with dual daily revisits to any point on the globe. Together, Pléiades and SPOT 6&7, scheduled for launch between 2011 and 2013, are all set to offer unrivalled capabilities guaranteeing users the right information at the right time.