New-generation satellite constellation gives improved data to SA users

South African users of satellite imagery will gain significant benefits from the latest generation of SPOT Earth Observation satellites, SPOT 6 and SPOT 7. These form a small constellation, being deployed 180 degrees apart in the same orbit. They replace a single satellite, SPOT 5, which was decommissioned at the end of March. This was highlighted recently by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), which distributes SPOT imagery in South Africa. The agreement to do so was signed in 2006 by a SANSA predecessor agency, the Satellite Applications Centre (which was a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research).