Proba-V
The Proba-V mission provides multispectral images to study the evolution of the vegetation cover on a daily and global basis. The 'V' stands for Vegetation. This mission is extending the data set of the long-established Vegetation instrument, flown as a secondary payload aboard France's SPOT-4 and SPOT-5 satellites launched in 1998 and 2002 respectively. The latter satellite's Vegetation instrument remains operational to this day, and is expected to remain operational until Q1/2015. The mission, developed as part of ESA's Proba Programme, is an ESA EO mission providing global coverage every two days, with latitudes 35-75°N and 35-56°S covered daily, and between 35°N and 35°S every 2 days. The Proba-V imager's continent-spanning 2250 km field of view collects light in the blue, red, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavebands, ideal for monitoring plant and forest growth as well as inland water bodies. The Vegetation instrument can distinguish between different land cover types and plant species, including crops, to reveal their health, as well as detect water bodies and vegetation burn scars. The SPOT Vegetation dataset has close to 10,000 registered users around the globe and has contributed to hundreds of scientific papers over 15 years. But with further SPOT satellites lacking the capacity to carry Vegetation instruments, Proba-V has been designed to meet the future needs of this group. The Proba-V mission has been developed in the frame of the ESA General Support Technology Program (GSTP). The Contributors to the Proba-V mission are Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada. The ESA Earth Watch Programme provides 1km data, which is complemented by a National Programme supplying products at 300m/600m resolution (available as ESA Third Party Mission). More information can be found on the ESA website and VITO website.
Data Access
Mission News
Proba-V 2018-2019 Antarctica data now available07 March 2019For the second consecutive austral summer season (see the 2018 news), Proba-V observed Antarctica and its ongoing changes: observations on the continent's land and sea ice surfaces were performed from 12 November 2018 until 18 February 2019. Catching the world in a box15 February 2019The rapid evolution of Egypt's Nile Delta over the last four years, as viewed from ESA's Proba-V microsatellite. Think of it as a small token of our love for planet Earth: just a cubic metre in size, Proba-V maps land cover and vegetation growth across the entire world every two days.
Image of the Week
Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula05 March 2019This Proba-V 100 m image of the northern half of the Red Sea, highlights the coral reefs along the coast of the Saudi region, Tabuk.
Mission Facts and Figures
Proba-V is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days. It is the latest in ESA's Proba series of minisatellites, among the smallest satellites launched by the agency - each one less than a cubic metre in volume. It operates on a sun-synchronous near polar Earth orbit at about 820 km guaranteeing the required swath of 2250 km with an instrument field of view of 102 degrees, compatible with the geographical coverage. The Proba-V satellite carries a new Vegetation instrument, as single operational payload. In the frame of the In Orbit Demonstration, the Proba-V platform also flies 5 technological payloads:
The main satellite features are listed below:
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