Is high resolution possible aboard minisatellites?

To achieve the size reductions needed to lower the costs of space imaging, every part of a satellite (telescope, detector, digitization, image compression, memory, telemetry, and of course satellite platform) has to be improved. With regard to the instrument, new dimensioning rules, new optical designs, and new detection systems allow significant gains. Better balance between detector and optics modulation transfer function (MTF) performances can be achieved. Though the involved solutions raise the question of signal level, the latter can be solved with the use of TDI (Time Delay and Integration) detection. The instrumental choices, the optical system under investigation and how the above techniques are allowed for in the next generation SPOT satellites development studies led by CNES will be presented in this paper, showing how they can achieve the goal of weight reductions.