# SPOT SYSTEM

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| The SPOT satellite Earth Observation System was designed by the CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), France, and developed with the participation of Sweden and Belgium. The system comprises a series of spacecrafts plus ground facilities for satellite control and programming, image production and distribution.

### The SPOT programme is based on two key principles:

- continuity of customer services,
- steadily improving quality of Spot data and services in response to changing customer needs.

Thanks to the SPOT 1, SPOT 2 and SPOT 3 satellites, the system has been operational for ten years. SPOT 1 was launched on 22 February 1986, and withdrawn from active service on 31 December 1990. SPOT 2 was launched on 22 January 1990 and is still operational. SPOT 3 was launched on 26 September 1993. An incident occured on SPOT 3 on November 14, 1997. After 3 years in orbit the satellite has stopped fonctioning. SPOT 3 will be followed by SPOT 4, ready to be destored and launched in the event of a premature failure of the satellites in orbit. SPOT 4 is scheduled for launching in early 1998. Engineering work for SPOT 5 has began so that the satellite can be launched late in 2002 to ensure service continuity.

To meet the increasing demand for SPOT imagery, notably during the northern hemisphere growing season, SPOT 2 and SPOT 1 will both be operational in 1997.

SPOT's unique features - high resolution, stereo imaging and revisit flexibility - enable it to gather data on land use and land cover, areas of special interest (deforestation, erosion, desertification, urban zones), and the impact of major works on the environment.

### After ten years of operation, approximatively 5 million images have been archived to provide an unparalleled record of our planet.

Satellite-based remote sensing is not only a key segment of Earth observation , but a prime source of geographic information. SPOT data has become essential to a wide spectrum of users who look to the continuation of the SPOT family to prove just how reliable and operational the system has become.