CARS: A Photogrammetric Pipeline for Global 3D Reconstruction using Satellite Imagery

Abstract. We present CARS, a multiview stereo pipeline developed by CNES, in its 1.0 release. This pipeline will be integrated into the processing chain of the CO3D (French acronym for ”Constellation Optique 3D”) mission. The goal of this mission is to generate a 3D model of the Earth in less than four years. Because this is an operational mission involving massive production, particular attention has been paid to ensuring that the software is robust, efficient and includes a set of advanced automatic processing features. The paper will provide a comprehensive overview of all the features developed since its creation to achieve this goal.