LOW COST, MULTI-MISSION REMOTE SENSING FOR CLIMATIC CHANGE AND TACTICAL SURVEILLANCE

LIMITED FUNDING DRIVE FUTURE SPACEBORNE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS TO AN AFFORDABLE SOLUTION WHICH COMPRISES MULTI MISSIONS, FLEXIBLE AND SIMPLE DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING TECHNIQUES AND LOW COST LAUNCH TO SPACE. CANDIDATE MISSIONS INCLUDE TACTICAL AND SPACE OBJECT SURVEILLANCE, PHOTO RECONNAISSANCE AND INTELLIGENCE, WEATHER FORECASTING AND NEXT GENERATION LANDSAT AND GOES APPLICATIONS, AS WELL AS, EARTH RESOURCE (OCEAN, TERRESTRIAL, CLOUD IMAGING), AND ATMOSPHERIC CLIMATIC CHANGE MEASUREMENTS. THIS PROPOSAL WILL DEVELOP A SINGLE INSTRUMENT DESIGN CAPABLE OF SIMULTANEOUSLY OBTAINING HIGH SPATIAL (3M VIS, 12M IR) IMAGING WITH CONTINUOUS SPECTRAL RESOLUTION (n/n¿250) RESULTANT HARDWARE COULD (1) REVOLUTIONIZE THE DOD SPACE DEPLOYMENT PHILOSOPHY TO A COST EFFECTIVE MULTI MISSION CAPABILITY; (2) DEMONSTRATE THE NEXT GENERATION, HIGHLY FLEXIBLE "LANDSAT CLASS" IMAGING SPECTROMETER APPROACH WITH CAPABILITY NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE (CONTINUOUS SPECTRAL RESOLUTION AND 3 TIMES BETTER SPATIAL RESOLUTION); (3) HAVE A PRIMARY ROLE IN DOD TREATY COMPLIANCE, GLOBAL MONITORING AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT; AND (4) PROVIDE IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DATA TO SUPPORT CLIMATIC CHANGE RESEARCH. SSG HAS DEVELOPED SPACEBORNE TELESCOPE SYSTEMS (CIRRIS IA AND SPIRIT 3/MSX) WHICH HAVE PERFORMED MULTI DOD IMAGING AND TARGET TRACKING MISSIONS, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY, OBTAINING SCIENTIFIC ATMOSPHERIC AND TERRESTRIAL SPECTRAL MEASURE- MENTS. SSG IS ALSO WORKING THE INTEGRATION OF KEY SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES WITH EMPHASIS ON ULTRALIGHTWEIGHT SIC REFLECTIVE TELESCOPE (0.6M DIAMETER WEIGHING < 50 LBS) TO PERMIT LAUNCH ON A PEGASUS CLASS LOW COST BOOSTER. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - COMBINING TACTICAL SURVEILLANCE AND POSSIBLY OTHER DOD MISSIONS WITH CLIMATIC CHANGE RESEARCH MEASUREMENT WILL PROVIDE A COST EFFECTIVE MULTI MISSION CAPABILITY. COUPLING THE MULTI MISSION ASPECT WITH A LOW COST, VERY LIGHTWEIGHT SENSOR SYSTEMS, CAPABLE OF BEING LAUNCHED ON A LOW COST PEGASUS CLASS BOOSTER, WILL REVOLUTIONIZE DOD'S AND NASA'S DEPLOYMENT PHILOSOPHY. IN ADDITION, THE SCIENTIFIC DATA ON A GLOBAL BASIS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT MAKING THE DOD A MAJOR PLAYER ON THE CLIMATIC CHANGE/EARTH RESOURCE COMMUNITY.