The overall mission objectives for SPOT 5 were:

• To provide image acquisition and service continuity consistent with previous SPOT satellites to satisfy the user investments. Hence, the same Sun-synchronous orbit is used providing the existing functional instrument capabilities with a 26 day repeat cycle, the same off-track viewing capability of ± 27° about nadir, the same spectral band selection, and the same 60 km double swath
• To improve the spatial resolution of the imagery to < 3 m in the panchromatic band and to 10 m in the multispectral mode. The SWIR band imagery remains at 20 m
• To offer in parallel a stereoscopic along-track observation capability (instead of the previously provided cross-track capability). The intend is to offer high-resolution imagery to be used for DEM (Digital Elevation Model) generation with an accuracy of 10 m.

Compared to its predecessors, SPOT 5 offered greatly enhanced capabilities: thanks to SPOT 5's improved 5 metre and 2.5 metre resolution and wide imaging swath, which covered 60 x 60 km or 60 km x 120 km. In twin-instrument mode, the SPOT 5 satellite provided an ideal balance between high resolution and wide-area coverage. SPOT 5's other key feature was the unprecedented acquisition capability of the on-board HRS stereo viewing instrument, which acquires stereo images over vast areas in a single pass. Stereo pair imagery is vital for applications that call for 3D terrain modeling and computer environments, such as flight simulator databases, pipeline corridors and mobile phone network planning.