The Pléiades is a satellite constellation of very-high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites.
First two 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 Pléiades system was designed under the French-Italian ORFEO Programme (Optical and Radar Federated Earth Observation) between 2001 and 2003.
The Pléiades programme was launched in October 2003 with CNES (the French space agency) as the overall system prime contractor and EADS Astrium as the prime contractor for the space segment.
Spot Image is the official and exclusive worldwide distributor of Pléiades products and services under a delegated public service agreement.
Pléiades-1A was launched via a Russian Soyuz ST-A launch vehicle of the Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, French Guiana, on 17 December 2011 at 02:03 UTC.
Pléiades-1B was launched via a Russian Soyuz ST-A launch vehicle of the Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, French Guiana, on 2 December 2012 at 02:02 UTC.
Pléiades-Neo 3 was launched on 29 April 2021 by Vega rocket (with NORSAT 3, AII-Bravo, ELO Alpha, Lemur-2 138, 139).
Pléiades-Neo 4 was launched on 17 August 2021 by Vega rocket (with BRO 4, RADCUBE, Sunstorm, LEDSAT).
Pléiades Neo 5 & 6 were launched on 21 December 2022 01:47 UTC by Vega C rocket, flight VV22. Failure due to loss of pressure of the Zefiro 40 second stage.
The two satellites operate in the same phased orbit and are offset at 180° to offer a daily revisit capability over any point on the globe. The Pléiades also share the same orbital plane as the SPOT 6 and 7, forming a larger constellation with 4 satellites, 90° apart from one another.
Orbit: Sun-synchronous, phased, near-circular
Equipped with technologies like fibre-optic gyroscopes and control moment gyroscopes, Pléiades-HR 1A, and 1B offer roll, pitch, and yaw (slew) agility, enabling the system to maximize the number of acquisitions above a given area.
Agility for Responsive Tasking
This agility coupled with particularly dynamic image acquisition programming make the Pléiades system very responsive to specific user requirements. Individual user requests was answered in record time, thanks to multiple programming plans per day and a state-of-the-art image processing chain. Performance at a glance:
Image acquisition anywhere within an 800-km-wide ground strip with 70 cm of resolution
Along-track stereo and tri-stereo image acquisition
Single-pass collection of mosaics (strip-mapping) with a footprint up to a square degree