This is the second of two Space Studies Board reports that address the complex issue of incorporating the needs of climate research into the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). NPOESS, which has been driven by the imperative of reliably providing short-term weather information, is itself a union of heretofore separate civilian and military programs. It is a marriage of convenience to eliminate needless duplication and reduce cost, one that appears to be working. The same considerations of expediency and economy motivate the present attempts to add to NPOESS the goals of climate research. The technical complexities of combining seemingly disparate requirements are accompanied by the programmatic complexities of forging further connections among three different agencies, with different mandates, cultures, and congressional appropriators. Yet the stakes are very high, and each agency gains significantly by finding ways to cooperate, as do the taxpayers. Beyond cost savings, benefits include the possibility that long-term climate observations will reveal new phenomena of interest to weather forecasters, as happened with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. Conversely, climate researchers can often make good use of operational data. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the needs of all the parties involved in NPOESS should conspire to foster creative solutions to make this effort work. Although it has often been said that research and operational requirements are incommensurate, this report and the phase one report (Science and Design) accentuate the degree to which they are complementary and could be made compatible. The reports provide guidelines for achieving the desired integration to the mutual benefit of all parties. Although a significant level of commitment will be needed to surmount the very real technical and programmatic impediments, the public interest would be well served by a positive outcome.

Increasingly, in the field of earth observation imagery, there is a need for image quality to be assessable in traceable Standard International Units (SIU), and for the standardization of common mapping projections. These two needs, plus the increased usage of combinations of data and image types, provided the stimuli for the development of this im

Remote observations of Earth from space serve an extraordinarily broad range of purposes, resulting in extraordinary demands on those at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and elsewhere who must decide how to execute them. In research, Earth observations promise large volumes of data to a variety of disciplines with differing needs for measurement type, simultaneity, continuity, and long-term instrument stability. Operational needs, such as weather forecasting, add a distinct set of requirements for continual and highly reliable monitoring of global conditions. The Role of Small Satellites in NASA and NOAA Earth Observation Programs confronts these diverse requirements and assesses how they might be met by small satellites. In the past, the preferred architecture for most NASA and NOAA missions was a single large spacecraft platform containing a sophisticated suite of instruments. But the recognition in other areas of space research that cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and robustness may be enhanced by using small spacecraft has raised questions about this philosophy of Earth observation. For example, NASA has already abandoned its original plan for a follow-on series of major platforms in its Earth Observing System. This study finds that small spacecraft can play an important role in Earth observation programs, providing to this field some of the expected benefits that are normally associated with such programs, such as rapid development and lower individual mission cost. It also identifies some of the programmatic and technical challenges associated with a mission composed of small spacecraft, as well as reasons why more traditional, larger platforms might still be preferred. The reasonable conclusion is that a systems-level examination is required to determine the optimum architecture for a given scientific and/or operational objective. The implied new challenge is for NASA and NOAA to find intra- and interagency planning mechanisms that can achieve the most appropriate and cost-effective balance among their various requirements.

This document stipulates protocols for measuring bio-optical and radiometric data for the Senor Inter comparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities and algorithm development. This document supersedes the earlier version published as Volume 25 in the SeaWiFS Technical report series ...

A volume in the Remote Sensing Handbook series, Remotely Sensed Data Characterization, Classification, and Accuracies documents the scientific and methodological advances that have taken place during the last 50 years. The other two volumes in the series are Land Resources Monitoring, Modeling, and Mapping with Remote Sensing, and Remote Sensing of

Hyperspectral Satellites and System Design is the first book on this subject. It provides a systematic analysis and detailed design of the entire development process of hyperspectral satellites. Derived from the author’s 25-year firsthand experience as a technical lead of space missions at the Canadian Space Agency, the book offers engineers, scientists, and decision-makers detailed knowledge and guidelines on hyperspectral satellite system design, trade-offs, performance modeling and simulation, optimization from component to system level, subsystem design, and implementation strategies. This information will help reduce the risk, shorten the development period, and lower the cost of hyperspectral satellite missions. This book is a must-have reference for professionals in developing hyperspectral satellites and data applications. It is also an excellent introductory book for early practitioners and students who want to learn more about hyperspectral satellites and their applications.