CNES/BT article published in BT.
| SPOT imagery is also used in some applications. Here are two
examples :
Satellites are the only way of discretely obtaining detailed images of any place in the
world. There are no laws against this.
While not having the 10 cm resolution of Russian or American military satellites, which
are capable of distinguishing a truck or an aircraft on the ground, SPOT imagery has the
advantage of covering large areas, which is ideal for mapping purposes. During recent
conflicts (the Gulf War and the wars in Somalia and ex-Yugoslavia, etc.) SPOT imagery
provided those preparing aerial missions with detailed views of the target area. This is
why France decided in 1986 to build the Helios military satellites, similar to SPOT
satellites, but with higher resolution. |
click to enlarge (46 kb )
Blazing oil wells in Kuwait, following the Iraqi invasion. At
the top of this image, taken by SPOT 2 on 2 March 1991, may be seen Kuwait city. |
This type of information can be used for humanitarian missions as well. This was the
case in 1992 when American armed forces delivered food and medicines to the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS). At that time there was no available information on the
twenty-four airfields involved in the operation.
Even though illegal, poppies (from which opium is derived) and marijuana are crops,
just like any others, which can be detected from space. It is known, for instance, that
poppies grow above an elevation of 800 m, that they are sometimes irrigated and that, most
often, they are cultivated in remote, inaccessible areas. Whereas marijuana, which
requires a lot of water, is most often found near transport infrastructures which are
necessary after harvesting.
Given this general information, France and Thailand decided a few years ago to develop
a method (based on SPOT imagery) to identify crop parcels in the Golden Triangle region in
Thailand (Thailand, Laos, Myanmar or the former Burma)
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