A SANSA satellite dish. Photo: SANSA

[Via Satellite 08-21-2015] Airbus Defence and Space has completed an imagery project covering all of South Africa in three months using the Spot 6 and Spot 7 twin satellites. A Direct Receiving Station (DRS) at the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) enabled coverage of the 1,221,000 square kilometer country at 1.5-meter resolution.

Airbus Defence and Space and SANSA have worked together on remote sensing since a Spot 1 data reception contract in 1989. In 2014 engineers upgraded the DRS to receive Spot 6 and 7 data. Imagery from the two satellites is now available for ordering from SANSA and new acquisitions are already ongoing to support a second country coverage during the remainder of 2015. The creation of a 1.5m seamless country mosaic is also planned for yearend.

Spot 6 and Spot 7 orbit at 694 kilometers and are phased 180 degrees apart. Each spacecraft can collect up to three million square kilometers of imagery per day.