In April, we looked at the striking, mountain top icon of the Incan empire, Machu Pichu. This month for the Pléiades 1 – Pléiades Neo Point of Interest, we’re heading to Germany to learn about the fabulous Neuschwanstein Castle.
Image one is a 50-cm color image of Neuschwanstein Castle captured by Pléiades 1A on June 30, 2012. Image 2 is a 30-cm Pléiades Neo 3 color image captured on September 25, 2022. Both images show the lush landscape of the castle grounds, and they give us a sense of the incredible view Neuschwanstein must have over the local village of Hohenschwangau. In the lower right quadrant of the images, you can also see the limestone cliffs the castle sits on. These images have custom processing and color balancing applied by Apollo Mapping. PLEIADES © CNES 2022, Distribution Airbus DS.About the Point of Interest: Standing on a cliffside overlooking the Pöllat Gorge, the picturesque valley contains the quaint village of Hohenschwangau in southwest Bavaria, Germany. Neuschwanstein Castle was commissioned in 1869 as a retreat in honor of the German composer Richard Wagner, with whom King Ludwig II of Bavaria was greatly fascinated. Neuschwanstein was built over the ruins of a preexisting castle, which were known to the king from excursions made there during his boyhood. Despite his passion for the project’s design and creation, King Ludwig II didn’t’ survive to see the castle completed; in fact, it was never completed but construction on it stopped in 1886. Today, the enchanting castle is one of the most popular palaces to visit in Europe, receiving over 1.4 million visitors each year.
Fun Factoids: (1) Neuschwanstein Castle is said to be the inspiration for Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty Castle” in Disneyland California. (2) Neuschwanstein Castle translates literally to “New Swan Castle”. During King Ludwig’s time, the castle was known as “New Hohenschwangau Castle”, and wasn’t renamed until after his death. The modern name is thought to be a reference to Wagners’ character the Swan Knight. (3) Outside the castle, the incredible Marienbrücke Bridge spans the Pöllat Gorge, providing stunning views of the palace. It’s a popular place for tourists to take photographs of the castle from a distance. (4) King Ludwig II is often called either the “Fairy Tale King” or the “Mad King” because of his irrational, reclusive behavior towards the end of his life. (5) When it was built, Neuschwanstein was full of cutting-edge technology, including automatically flushing toilets and an air heating system.
The 50-cm Pléiades 1 High-Resolution Satellite Constellation
The Pléiades 1 constellation (or at least part of it!) 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 1 and Pléiades Neo for your next geospatial projects.
A variety of Pléiades 1 products are available from both a well-established 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 both of these satellite constellations.
The 30-cm Pléiades Neo High-Resolution Satellite Constellation
Pléiades Neo is our newest high-resolution satellite constellation. The first Neo satellite went up in April 2021 and the second in August of the same year. This 30-centimeter resolution constellation will add two more satellites in the next few months and upgrade from daily to intraday revisits. Pléiades Neo has six multispectral bands with 1.2-meter resolution, including a deep blue and two infrared bands, along with a 30-centimeter resolution panchromatic band.
The archive is growing every day, and the satellites are available for new collections, making Pléiades Neo the perfect solution for site monitoring. Check out our beautiful sample images in the Pléiades Neo gallery.
More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1 can be found on our website here; while the same can be found here for the Pléiades Neo constellation.
The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about Pléiades 1 and/or Pléiades Neo. We can be reached at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.
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