The Vegetation instrument
The Vegetation cameras
Simulations of Vegetation imagery

drap_fr2.jpg (1320 octets)  ue2.gif (1062 octets)

drap_sw2.jpg (1840 octets)  drap_bg2.jpg (1501 octets)  drap_it2.jpg (1378 octets)

spot4vgt.gif (19717 octets)

s4vgt02.gif (30080 octets)

image2.jpg (6379 octets)

  VEGETATION is an independent instrument which complements the main SPOT 4 payload, HRVIR (High Resolution Visible Infrared).

It is a complete and autonomous system made up of the following subsystems :

maqtvgt2.gif (15127 octets)

These subassemblies are integrated into a single package which is mounted at the base of the HRVIR instruments, with a volume of 1 x 1.1 x 0.7 metres and a mass of 152 kg.

top of page, article

The Vegetation cameras

The instrument design uses 4 cameras, one for each spectral band, with each one covering the whole field of view.

These spectral bands are the same as those for the SPOT 4 HRVIR instruments.

However, unlike the HRVIRs, the VEGETATION cameras cover a very wide field of view of 101° producing a swath width of 2 250 km. The nominal resolution for optimizing the instrument mission is defined by pixels of 1.165 x 1.165 km instead of the ten metres for the HRVIRs.

payload.gif (65148 octets)

The Vegetation payload

The instrument gathers light reflected by the Earth's surface and transforms it into discrete pixel values.

optics.gif (9249 octets)The radiation emitted by the area under observation passes through a set of thirteen lenses. A wide- angle or spherical-parabolic lens at the entrance of the instrument transforms the incoming light into constant illumation in the focal plane, where the sensors are placed.


optics1.gif (31892 octets)

detectr.gif (19837 octets)The sensors for the visible channels are CCD silicon detectors very similar to those used in digital cameras.
The shortwave infrared array consists of light-sensitive Gallium Arsenide, InGaAs detectors



Each camera has :

Following analogue equalization, the four spectral channels are grouped together and multiplexed by an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) using 10 bit encoding.

The signals are sent to the video electronics package for digitizing. They are then transmitted to the image processing device which sends them either to the onboard recorder or to the telemetry channel.

Telemetry can be sent at a ' global mode' level at 8 153 MHz known as the X-band,   at a rate of 3.4 Megabits per second (Mbps). Over certain regions it can also be transmitted in L-band (at 1 704 MHz) at a rate of 0.51 Mbps.

top of page, article

image2.jpg (6379 octets)

Simulations of Vegetation imagery

animvgt2.gif (328177 octets) This animated illustration shows the swath covered by the Vegetation instrument. The scenes are acquired during the day over exposed land and viewing stops when the satellite crosses the oceans. In this example, the viewing begins over Greenland, then starts again over Newfoundland before covering South America.
If you are patient enough, click on the image to get an enlarged animated picture.
(be warned, this is a 1.17 Mbyte file)
grande animation Vegetation

top of page, article

image2.jpg (6379 octets)

page updated on the 00-06-06