From India we travel across the globe to one of the most famed stadiums in the world, Beaver Stadium, home of the Penn State University Nittany Lions football team for this stop on the Pléiades 1 Stadium of the Month.

Name & Its Origin: Penn State University’s (PSU) Beaver Stadium is named after former Pennsylvania governor (1887-91), Civil War hero, University President (1906-08) and football supporter, General James A. Beaver. While he served as Governor, Beaver helped secure funding to improve the football team, hence the students named the new stadium in his honor.

Location: Beaver Stadium is situated in the outskirts of the college town, State College, which is at the approximate geographic center of the eastern seaboard American state of Pennsylvania. Located in the rolling and forested Allegheny Mountains, the stadium is some 1,160 feet above sea level. State College is a three and a half to four hour, 192-mile drive from Philadelphia.

Stadium Capacity/Size, Architect & Build Date: Beaver Stadium is the third largest non-horse stadium and is the second largest (American) football-specific stadium in the world. Inaugurated in 1960, the original Beaver Stadium was in a horseshoe configuration with a capacity of just 46,284. Six expansions later, the stadium now holds 106,752 fans with 110 rows on the east side, 100 on the west, 60 in the lower end zones, 35 in the north, 25 in the south and then 20 rows of club seating.

Type of Field Surface: Beaver Field features a natural grass turf that has been maintained by Hummer Sports Turf for more than three decades. In 1996, the turf was a combination of bluegrass and Pennfine ryegrass but it is unclear if that is still the case today.

Key Sports Teams: Penn State University has a long tradition of top-notched football teams and they appear to be the only sports team that plays in Beaver Stadium.

Most Popular Yearly Event: College football is the by far the most popular event held at Beaver Stadium each year. In 2014, 711,358 fans attended home Nittany Lion football games for an average attendance of 101,623 per home game which was ranked 11^th for FBS schools. The 5^th annual Beaver Stadium Run drew 4,000 runners in 2014 who finished the race by crossing the 50-yard line.

Fun Factoids: (1) The September 14, 2002 football game won by Penn State over Nebraska (40 to 7) was the largest attendance on record at 110,753. (2) Beaver Stadium is rumored to be the site of the 2017 NHL Winter Classic game which could feature a matchup between two Pennsylvania hockey teams that turn 50 years old in 2017, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. (3) In 2014, a 35-feet by 25-feet Nittany Lion logo was installed on the north side of the stadium – it weighs some 6,500 pounds with 1,400 LED lights but only consumes 330 watts of power!

A 50-cm color image of Beaver Stadium, State College, Pennsylvania, USA collected on August 22, 2012 by Pléiades 1A. To see this stadium in SPOT 6/7 1.5-meter resolution, check out this month’s feature on SPOTMaps. Image photo enhanced by Apollo Mapping. © CNES 2015, Distribution Airbus Defense and Space / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved.

The 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 for your next geospatial project.

A variety of Pléiades 1 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 satellite constellation.

Working with Pléiades 1 since the launch of the first twin satellite, P1A, we have noticed that:

Airbus Defense and Space is able to deliver on their tasking feasibilities.

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

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

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