REMOTE SENSING FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH AND TACTICAL SURVEILLANCE

GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE HAVE RECENTLY CONCLUDED THAT THEY FACE AN ISSUE UNPRECEDENTED IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - ANTHROPOGENIC MODIFICATIONS TO THE BIOSPHERE WHICH COULD, POTENTIALLY, HAVE A TRILLION DOLLAR IMPACT ON THE WORLD ECONOMY. THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS TO DESIGN A SMALL SATELLITE WHICH WILL BE CAPABLE OF MAKING THE KEY MEASUREMENTS NEEDED TO INVESTIGATE THESE CLIMATE CHANGES. SINCE MANY OF THE INSTRUMENTS NEEDED FOR CLIMATE MEASUREMENTS HAVE MUCH IN COMMON WITH THE INCREASING NEED FOR TACTICAL SURVEILLANCE, THE SENSOR SUITE WILL ALSO BE DESIGNED TO SATISFY THE SURVEILLANCE MISSION. THE KEY TASKS WHICH WILL BE COMPLETED DURING THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE, 1) DETERMINATION OF THE KEY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DUAL MISSION SATELLITE, 2) ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF THE PAYLOAD INSTRUMENTS AND SUPPORT HARDWARE (CAMERAS, FILTERS, FPAS, TELESCOPE, SCANNER, WFOV RADIOMETER, INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION, AND DATA MANAGEMENT), 3) IDENTIFICATION OF LAUNCH VEHICLES, AND 4) COST AND SCHEDULE ESTIMATE. JBST PLANS TO MAKE EXTENSIVE USE OF PREVIOUS WORK CONDUCTED BY NASA FOR EOS, AS WELL AS GROUPS WITH EXPERIENCE WITH LIGHTSAT INSTRUMENTS AND SUPPORT HARDWARE USED IN SURVEILLANCE AND CLIMATE MONITORING. THESE GROUPS INCLUDE LLNL, LANL, DARPA, NASA GODDARD, TRW, DSI, SANDIA, AND JBST. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - NEAR TERM, LOW COST SATELLITES ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO INVESTIGATE ANTHROPOGENIC CLIMATIC CHANGES, WHICH COULD HAVE AN ENORMOUS IMPACT ON THE WORLD ECONOMY. IF THOSE SATELLITES COULD ALSO BE DESIGNED FOR TACTICAL SURVEILLANCE, THE DOD SAVINGS WOULD BE SIGNIFICANT. THE REMOTE SENSING DATA WOULD ALSO BE BENEFICIAL TO COMMERCIAL INTERESTS SUCH AS BUSINESSES INVOLVED IN AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, FORESTRY, MINERAL EXTRACTION, MAPPING, MEDIA, INSURANCE, REAL ESTATE, AND WASTE MANAGEMENT.