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 monitors African Sahel27 July 2017ESA's Proba-V minisatellite reveals the seasonal changes in Africa's sub-Saharan Sahel, with the rainy season allowing vegetation to blossom between February (top) and September (bottom). 2nd Proba-V Symposium 29-31 May 201820 July 2017After more than 4 years of successful operations, Proba-V is consolidating its role as a key data provider to the Copernicus Global Land Service as well as a valuable complement to the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 suite of optical sensors. Consequently, to further promote the scientific and operational exploitation of Proba-V data, a second "Proba-V Symposium" is taking place from 29 to 31 May 2018 in Belgium.
Image of the Week
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada15 August 2017 This Proba-V image illustrates a winter scene in the Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador.
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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