The second SPOT used the SPOT Mk 1 bus, and was launched on 1990 Jan 22 on an Ariane into an 800 km orbit. The orbit was raised to 825 km by Jan 30 and the satellite was declared operational and turned over to the Spot Image operating team on Mar 23. The satellite had a launch mass of 1870 kg and a dry mass of 1710 kg. In addition to the CCD imagers, SPOT 2 carried the DORIS experiment to allow accurate orbit determination.
In Jul 1997 a collision avoidance burn was made to avoid a 400m flyby of object 5061, increasing orbital height by 400m for a day.
| SPOT 2 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 Jan 22 | 0135:27 | Launch by Ariane (V35) | CSG ELA2 |
| 100.78 786 x 805 x 98.7 | |||
| 1990 Jan 23 | 100.90 800 x 805 x 98.7 | ||
| 1990 Jan 30 | At operational orbit | ||
| 1990 Mar 23 | To Spot Image, operational | ||
| 1993 Sep | 101.41 825 x 825 x 98.7 | ||
| 1997 Jul 23 | 2000:30 | Avoidance burn (Object 5061 COLA) | |
| 1997 Jul 23 | 2051:08 | Avoidance burn part 2 | |
| 1997 Jul 24 | Return burn | ||