An island shaped like an April fool’s

April Fools in the shape of an island

A short while ago on this blog, we told you about San Serriffe Island, the most beautiful typographic April Fool's ever. We can't help but pass on the magnificent April Fool's of the CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales), which is a perfect match for that of San Serrife Island.

CNES's april fool

On April 1, 2014, CNES unveiled a new island discovered by Pleiades satellites, a new kind of earth observation satellite whose photos are no match for Yann Arthus Bertrand !

So it was during 3 days of very serious conferences, organized in association with Airbus Defense & Space, that the discovery of this island was presented during the opening speech. For the 400 participants, the surprise was total. Laughter and applause followed. This was followed by a presentation of the results of 130 thematic studies into the potential uses of Pleiades satellite data.

Pleiades of images

Pléiades is a pair of optical Earth observation satellites. The Pléiades 1A and Pléiades 1B satellites operate as a true constellation in the same orbit, 180° apart. Perfectly identical, they deliver very high-resolution optical products in record time, with daily revisit capability.

Here are some magnificent images of these satellites.

Image credits: CNES/Nathalie Bertrand, 2014.