Pleiades
Spacecraft · France
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Credit: Manufacturer Image
French military optical reconnaisance satellite. The Pleiades constellation consists of two one metric ton satellites offering a spatial resolution at nadir of 0.7 m and a field of view of 20 km. While designed for off-nadir imaging to support rapid retasking of targets, the satellites will also offer stereoscopic capability to meet detailed cartography requirements for urban regions. Earth Observing satellite built by Astrium (prime), Alcatel for CNES, France. Launched 2011 - 2012.
Pleiades was part of a multinational military reconnaisance program. France and Italy jointly developed ORFEO, a dual-mode Earth observation system with metric resolution, in which Pleiades (France) was the optic component and Cosmo-Skymed (Italy) was the radar component. Cooperative agreements for the Pleiades optical component were also agreed with Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Austria.
More at: Pleiades.
Related
- Family
- Surveillance
- Country
- France
- Launch Vehicles
- R-7, Soyuz-ST-A
- Launch Sites
- Kourou ELS
Chronology
2 events
2011 December 17
02:03 GMT - . Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Complex: Kourou ELS. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-ST-A.- Pleiades HR1 - . Mass: 970 kg (2,130 lb). Nation: France. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: Pleiades. USAF Sat Cat: 38007 . COSPAR: 2011-076A. Apogee: 692 km (429 mi). Perigee: 676 km (420 mi). Inclination: 98.20 deg. Period: 98.50 min. High resolution military surveillance satellite..
2012 December 2
02:02 GMT - . Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Complex: Kourou ELS. LV Family: R-7. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-ST-A.- Pleiades 1B - . Mass: 970 kg (2,130 lb). Nation: France. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: Pleiades. USAF Sat Cat: 39019 . COSPAR: 2012-068A. Apogee: 699 km (434 mi). Perigee: 697 km (433 mi). Inclination: 98.20 deg. Period: 98.70 min. High resolution French military optical reconnaisance satellite..