French satellite to photograph N.Z.

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 10

French satellite to photograph N.Z.

PA Wellington A French satellite to be launched this week-end will take pictures of New Zealand for analysis by scientists. France will launch the rocket Ariane from French Guiana on Sunday. The rocket will in turn launch the new satellite, to be called Spot. Dr Peter Ellis, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who visited the Spot satellite mission headquarters in France last month, has negotiated pictures for three New Zealand Government departments.

The satellite will take two images of the Wanganui area at the request of the Ministry of Works and Development to look at agricultural land use and erosion, as well as types of plants found in the area.

The Ministry of Agriculture has asked for close-ups of Darfield in Canterbury, which is used as the remotesensing test site for identifying crops. Crops such as wheat, peas and potatoes can be monitored by Spot every 26 days to enable scientists to pick

up data on diseases affecting the plants. The Upper Waitaki Valley also will be photographed, as the Lands and Survey Department wants to look at Crown land leased to farmers. Other investigations based on the satellite images may include tussock and noxious weeds, irrigation schemes and classifying ground cover. Spot will pass over New Zealand every day about

10.45 a.m. at a height of 700 km. A D.S.I.R. scientist, Ms Stella Beiliss, who is coordinating Spot’s New Zealand projects, said the images would be more detailed than those provided by the American Landsat satellites in 1979-81. “The equipment on board can achieve a ground resolution of 10 and 20 metres compared with Landsat’s multispectral scanner at 80 metres,” she said.