In-orbit behaviour of SPOT 1, 2 and 3 Solar arrays

摘要

The SPOT satellites are designed for optical earth observation in sun-synchronous low earth orbit. SPOT 1 has been launched in February 1986 whereas SPOT 2 and SPOT 3 have been launched later (January 1990 and September 1993 respectively). Today, only SPOT 3 is out of order. SPOT 4 has been launched successfully in March 1998: its solar generator is not studied in this paper because the design is different (second generation).