missions

SPOT 6

Compiled from public sources. Not independently verified by Airbus Defence and Space.

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SPOT 6 (Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre 6) is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite operated by Airbus DS. It launched on 2012-09-09 into a sun-synchronous orbit at 695 km altitude with a 10:30 descending equatorial crossing time. The satellite carries the NAOMI (New AstroSat Optical Modular Instrument) multispectral camera, providing 1.5 m panchromatic and 6 m multispectral imagery over a 60 km swath. SPOT 6 operates as one of a pair with the identical SPOT 7, offering a combined daily revisit at mid-latitudes and wide-area mosaic capability. WMO OSCAR records the satellite as operational; its 10-year design life has elapsed since launch, and the satellite continues operations beyond its nominal design life. The satellite's archive spans 14 years. SPOT 6 is a Copernicus Contributing Mission and supports land cover change analysis, crop and vegetation stress monitoring, transport infrastructure mapping, and urban change detection. The exact planned decommission date and current tasking service-level terms were not found in public agency or operator sources reviewed. ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Full specification

All fields

current status	Extended operations
operator	Airbus Defence and Space
platform	SPOT 6/7 Platform
launch vehicle	PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)
Launched	2012-09-09
orbit type	Sun-synchronous LEO, 695 km, 10:30 descending equator crossing time
swath km	60
revisit days	1
tasking supported	Yes
archive depth years	14
current geographic priority	Global high-resolution optical imaging for mapping, agriculture, land management, wide-area mosaics, and time-sensitive monitoring.
claim status	Unclaimed

Supply chain position

carries instrument SPOT 6/7 NAOMI

operated by Airbus Defence and Space

launched on PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)

built on platform SPOT 6/7 Platform

related to Land cover change

related to Crop stress and yield

related to Urban change

Multispectral optical imaging → demonstrated SPOT 6/7 NAOMI

Sources

[1]WMO OSCAR, Satellite: SPOT-6agency doc2026-06-14
[2]Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, SPOT 6 and SPOT 7agency doc2026-06-14
[3]Copernicus Contributing Missions documentation, SPOT 6-7agency doc2026-06-14
[4]UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal, SPOT 6community2026-06-14

Cite https://eo-atlas.org/missions/spot-6 Markdown twin → Field definitions → Suggest a correction →

How to cite this page

Plain text

SPOT 6. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/spot-6 (CC BY 4.0)

BibTeX

@misc{eoatlas:missions:spot-6,
  title = {SPOT 6},
  author = {{EO-Atlas}},
  publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
  url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/spot-6}
}