Astrium Services is pleased to confirm to customers, partners and the remote-sensing industry that Pléiades 1B will be launched on Friday, 30 November 2012 at 11:02 pm Kourou local time (Saturday, 1 December 2:02 UTC).The second satellite in the Pléiades constellation will be orbited by a Soyuz launcher from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. The official broadcast of the launch will be ensured by Arianespace at www.arianespace.tv.
Once Pléiades 1B has joined Pléiades 1A in orbit, they will form a constellation of identical twin satellites operated by Astrium Services. The two satellites will be phased 180° on the same orbit to ensure delivery of 50-cm products with daily revisits to any point on the globe. This unique very-high-resolution configuration will offer civil and military users faster imaging of areas of interest, a regular surveillance capability and a twofold increase in coverage.
A constellation of 4 satellites en route to orbit
The launch of Pléiades 1B marks the third step in the formation of a constellation of four satellites combining a double daily revisit capability and an ingenious range of resolutions.
From 2014, this constellation will comprise Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B, delivering 50-cm imagery products, and SPOT 6 and SPOT 7, designed to assure continuity of service after SPOT 5 and to supply high-resolution data products (1.5 m). SPOT 6 was launched on 9 September 2012.
Astrium Services is the exclusive distributor of data and geo-information products from this unique constellation.
