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Posted on October 30th, 2012

Monthly Update on Astrium’s High Resolution Satellite, Pléiades 1A

Pléiades 1A has been in orbit since December 2011 and if you have not had a chance to check out any sample imagery, take a few moments and have a look at the gallery on our website. If you work with high resolution imagery, you should consider Pléiades 1A for your next geospatial project.

A variety of Pléiades 1A products are available from both a growing archive and as a new collection, including 50-centimeter (cm) pansharpened imagery and 50-cm panchromatic – 2-meter (m) 4-band multispectral bundles. We are happy to discuss the technical specifications, pricing and tasking options available with this new satellite constellation as Pléiades 1A will be joined in space by its twin, Pléiades 1B, later this year.

Working with Pléiades 1A for the past months, we have noticed that:

  • The imagery archive is already growing and is well targeted.
  • Astrium is able to deliver on their Pléiades 1A tasking feasibilities.
  • The data is crisp with excellent color saturation so that it is on par with competitors’ 50-cm satellites.

Tracking Pléiades 1A Collections Over North America

Since the launch of Pléiades 1A, Astrium’s collection planners have aggressively imaged a combination of active tasking orders and then speculative collections to fill the archive with recent, high-resolution data. North America has been a favorite target of collection planning as can be seen in the map and statistics below:

  • 6,827,512 sq km of imagery collected over North America and the Caribbean since launch (most collections from after March 2012)
  • 4,418,029 sq km of this imagery has 20% or less cloud cover (64.7% of the total collected)
  • For reference, the US state of Texas covers 695,621 sq km (including water)



A map of every Pléiades 1A collection over North America – those areas shown in green have collections with less than 20% cloud cover while those in red have collections which exceed that threshold.

To initiate a new tasking order, email geographic information on your area of interest to the Apollo Mapping sales team at sales@apollomapping.com.

Recent Tasking Successes with Pléiades 1A

In the past month, Pléiades 1A collected three tasking orders that we expected to be difficult for any high resolution imaging system. Pléiades 1A was more than up to the challenge, here is a summary of our recent successes:

  • A near cloud-free mono collection over southern Finland less than three weeks after order confirmation.
  • Cloud-free tri-stereo collections over Cambridge, Massachusetts; Lake Tahoe, California; and Lubbock, Texas all within two weeks of order confirmation.
  • And a cloud-free mono collection over coastal Washington state, USA on the first day of order activation.

To say that we are impressed with Pléiades 1A’s ability to collect high resolution imagery within stated timelines is a vast understatement!

Pléiades 1A Sample Imagery

This month we feature stunning sample imagery collected by Pléiades 1A over Hong Kong, China on March 4, 2012. We Photo Enhanced this 50-cm natural color imagery to improve its colors and sharpness and the results speak for themselves.


© CNES 2012, Distribution Astrium Services / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved”

Our Contact Details For More Information About Pléiades 1A

The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about Pléiades 1A. We can be reached anytime at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.

More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1A can be found on our website here.

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