Network and partners
Spot Image is a worldwide distributor of products and services using imagery from Earth observation satellites and works through a network of subsidiaries, local offices (Australia, Brazil, China, United States, Japan, Peru, Singapore), and partners. The goal is to provide on-the-spot service with worldwide availability.
Spot Image works with a network of more than 30 direct receiving stations handling images acquired by the SPOT satellites.
Spot Image collaborates with ESA's GMES programme, shares geographic information with the OGC and contributes to the interoperability of web services; with Infoterra Global it continues to offer services for precision-agriculture.
Envisat is a large inactive Earth-observing satellite which is still in orbit. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was the world's largest civilian Earth observation satellite.
SPOT is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth imaging satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES in the 1970s and was developed in association with the SSTC and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). It has been designed to improve the knowledge and management of the Earth by exploring the Earth's resources, detecting and forecasting phenomena involving climatology and oceanography, and monitoring human activities and natural phenomena. The SPOT system includes a series of satellites and ground control resources for satellite control and programming, image production, and distribution. Earlier satellites were launched using the European Space Agency's Ariane 2, 3, and 4 rockets, while SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 were launched by the Indian PSLV.
Satellite images are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell images by licensing them to governments and businesses such as Apple Maps and Google Maps. It should not be confused for astronomy images collected by space telescope.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space.
TerraSAR-X, an imaging radar Earth observation satellite, is a joint venture being carried out under a public-private-partnership between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and EADS Astrium. The exclusive commercial exploitation rights are held by the geo-information service provider Astrium. TerraSAR-X was launched on 15 June 2007 and has been in operational service since January 2008. With its twin satellite TanDEM-X, launched 21 June 2010, TerraSAR-X acquires the data basis for the WorldDEM, the worldwide and homogeneous DEM available from 2014.
Arirang-2, also known as KOMPSAT-2, is a South Korean multipurpose reconnaissance satellite. It was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia at 07:45:43 UTC on 28 July 2006. It began to transmit signals at 14:00 UTC the same day. Like the earlier Arirang-1 satellite, it takes its name from the popular Korean folk song Arirang. Its launch was the culmination of a project begun in 1999.
Copernicus is the European Union's Earth observation programme coordinated and managed by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), the EU Member States and EU agencies.
Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Astrium was a member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies.
Formosat-2 is a decommissioned Earth observation satellite formerly operated by the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan. It was a high-resolution photographic surveillance satellite with a daily revisit capability. Images are commercially available from Astrium.
Alphabus is a family of heavy geostationary communications satellites developed by a joint venture between Thales Alenia Space and EADS Astrium Satellites in France, with support of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Pléiades constellation is composed of two very-high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites. Pléiades-1A and Pléiades-1B provide the coverage of Earth's surface with a repeat cycle of 26 days. Designed as a dual civil/military system, Pléiades will meet the space imagery requirements of European defence as well as civil and commercial needs.
The Satellite System for Terrestrial Observation, Sistema Satelital para Observación de la Tierra (SSOT), also known as FASat-Charlie, is a Chilean satellite which was launched on December 16, 2011. The objective of the SSOT is to have a satellite system for the observation of Earth based on international cooperation.
TanDEM-X is the name of TerraSAR-X's twin satellite, a German Earth observation satellite using SAR - a modern radar imaging technology. Implemented in a Public-Private-Partnership between the German Aerospace centre (DLR) and EADS Astrium, it is a second, almost identical spacecraft to TerraSAR-X. TanDEM-X is also the name of the satellite mission flying the two satellites in a closely controlled formation with typical distances between 250 and 500 m. The twin satellite constellation allowed the generation of WorldDEM global digital elevation models starting in 2014.
Myriade is a European miniaturized satellite platform developed by EADS Astrium and CNES. EADS Astrium offers the Myriade bus under the commercial name Astrosat-100. CNES began developing Myriade in 1998, as a continuation of the Proteus program.
Astrosat-1000 is the largest option in EADS Astrium's Astrosat family of satellite buses. Astrosat-1000 provides the basic structure for building satellites between 800 and 1200 kg in mass. It is the satellite bus used for the Pléiades-HR series of satellites.
Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus responsible for defence and aerospace products and services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the corporate restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), and comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium, and Cassidian divisions. It is the world's second largest space company after Boeing and one of the top ten defence companies in the world.
Composante Spatiale Optique is a French military Earth observation satellite program of third generation. It replaces the Helios 2 satellites. It is sometimes referred to as the MUltinational Space-based Imaging System for Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Observation.
The International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" is a non-binding charter which provides for the charitable and humanitarian acquisition and transmission of satellite data to relief organizations in the event of major disasters. Initiated by the European Space Agency and the French space agency CNES after the UNISPACE III conference held in Vienna, Austria, in July 1999, it officially came into operation on November 1, 2000, after the Canadian Space Agency signed onto the charter on October 20, 2000. Their space assets were then, respectively, ERS and ENVISAT, SPOT and Formosat, and RADARSAT.
The National Space Program (PSN) horizons 2020 planned to put in place space infrastructures, space systems and increase the specialized human resources in space technologies. Among the space systems planned in the PSN are Algeria's satellites, of which a significant number should be partly or totally integrated in the Algerian center for satellite development "CDS". CDS offers the technological environment for national competence to develop the future Algerian satellite systems. Algeria's objectives is to make of space tools a powerful instrument in national prosperity in the fields of earth observation, meteorology and communications.
Satrec Initiative Co., Ltd. or Satrec i or SI is a South Korean satellite manufacturing company headquartered in Daejeon, South Korea The company was founded in 1999 by the engineers who developed the first Korean satellite (KITSAT-1) at KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTRec). The company designs and builds Earth observation satellites called SpaceEye-series, and it provides various space components, including high resolution electro-optical payloads and star-trackers. SI's first satellite was a Malaysian Earth observation satellite, RazakSAT launched in 2009. SI has two subsidiaries: SI Imaging Services (SIIS) is the exclusive image data provider of KOMPSAT-series, and SI Analytics (SIA) provides AI-native GEOINT solutions for satellite imagery. SI also spun-off SI Detection (SID), which provides radiation monitoring solutions.
