The SPOT satellite constellation offers acquisition and daily revisit capacity for anywhere in the world. SPOT produces two high resolution optical images. The multispectral mode is in the red, green and infrared bands of the EM spectrum. The panchromatic mode is a single wide band in the visible part of the spectrum with higher resolution.

SPOT 3 was relatively short-lived compared with many other satellites in the SPOT series. It was launched in 1993 with an expected lifespan of four years. Failure occurred due to issues with its stabilisation system.