The hexagonal-shaped Pléiades 1is readied for its pre-launch checkout in one of the Spaceport’s clean room facilities at French Guiana.
The Pléiades 1 Earth observation satellite payload for Arianespace’s second Soyuz mission from French Guiana is undergoing pre-launch checkout at the Spaceport as this platform is readied for flight with five co-passengers. For Arianespace’s December 16 Soyuz mission, Pléiades 1 will be launched along with four ELISA demonstrator satellites, which were developed by Astrium and Thales Systèmes Aéroportés for the French DGA defense ministry procurement agency and CNES. These spacecraft will be used for electronic intelligence (ELINT) mapping of radars and other transmitters worldwide and the determination of their technical characteristics.
Built by prime contractor EADS Astrium for the French CNES space agency, Pléiades 1 will provide military and civilian users with very high resolution optical satellite imagery from a 700-km. orbit – offering 50-cm. resolution imaging products at a coverage swath width of 20 km.
Pléiades 1’s design was driven by considerations for image quality, operational agility and image location accuracy. The result is a compact design based on a hexagonal-shaped spacecraft, with three solar arrays positioned at 120 degrees and three star trackers in a quasi-tetrahedron configuration to optimize the attitude determination accuracy.
