The ORFEO acompaniment program and ORFEO ToolBox

Launched last December 17, 2011, the first satellite of the Pleiades system allows of very high resolution images acquisition. This system is made of two “small satellites” (mass of one ton) offering a spatial resolution at nadir of 0.7 meters and a field of view of 20 kilometers. The second satellite will be launched mid-2013. The great agility of those two satellites enables a daily access all over the world, which is a critical need for defence and civil security applications, and a coverage capacity necessary for the cartographic applications at scales better than those accessible to SPOT satellites family. Moreover, Pleiades have very high stereoscopic acquisition capacity to meet the fine cartography needs, notably in urban regions, and to bring information complementary to aerial photography.