missions

Pleiades-1A

Pleiades-1A (Pleiades-HR 1A) is a French very-high-resolution optical imaging satellite operated by CNES, launched on 17 December 2011 into a sun-synchronous orbit at 694 km with a 10:15 descending local solar time.^[1]^[2] The satellite carries the Pleiades HiRI imager, which delivers 0.5 m panchromatic and 2 m multispectral products across a 20 km swath.^[3] Operating in a two-satellite constellation with Pleiades-1B, the pair achieves a one-day revisit interval for tasked targets; the single-satellite orbital repeat is 26 days. Tasking is supported with a 14-year archive available as of 2026.^[1]^[4] CNES holds the mission operator role; Airbus Defence and Space assumed commercial distribution responsibilities approximately six months after launch.^[5] Applications include global very-high-resolution mapping, civil and defence imaging, disaster response, and urban and infrastructure monitoring. CNES and WMO OSCAR record planned decommissioning around end of 2028.^[1]^[2]

Full specification

All fields

current status	Operational
operator	Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
launch vehicle	Arianespace Soyuz
Launched	2011-12-17
planned decommission	2028-12-31
orbit type	Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, 694 km, 10:15 descending local solar time
swath km	20
revisit days	26
tasking supported	Yes
archive depth years	14
current geographic priority	Global very-high-resolution civil, commercial, and defence imaging.

Supply chain position

carries instrument Pléiades HiRI

operated by Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales

launched on Arianespace Soyuz

related to Disaster damage assessment

related to Urban change

related to Land cover change

Vegetation index mapping → demonstrated Pléiades HiRI

Optical time-series change detection → capable Pléiades HiRI

Multispectral optical imaging → demonstrated Pléiades HiRI

Sources

[1]Pleiades project page, CNESagency doc2026-06-14
[2]Satellite: Pleiades-1A, WMO OSCAR/Spaceagency doc2026-06-14
[3]Pleiades Imagery User Guide, Airbus Defence and Spaceoperator datasheet2026-06-14
[4]Pleiades 1A mission summary, CEOS databasecommunity2026-06-14
[5]Pleiades: 10 years of successful satellite images, Airbusoperator press2026-06-14

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/pleiades-1a Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

Pleiades-1A. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/pleiades-1a (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:missions:pleiades-1a,
  title = {Pleiades-1A},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/pleiades-1a}
}