Earth science is evolving into Earth system science, changing from a discipline-specific premise to an interdisciplinary endeavor. Increased awareness of human dependence and impact upon the environment has made global change research one of the most pressing policy issues facing decision makers today. This book presents an overview of past, present, and future satellite missions and programs and their sensor complements. An effort has been made to show to some extent the scale and nature of existingnational and international activities and operations in this context. Text and illustrations are intended as a guide and roadmap to everyone interested in the wide field of Earth observation. In particular, the book may serve as a reference, or give reasonable inputs, on the following subjects: Programmatic planning on all levels, planning for the required infrastructure, exisiting and planned operational service provision, data utilization and exploitation.

A Survey of Missions and Sensors.- A.1 ADEOS (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite).- A.2 ALMAZ.- A.2.1 ALMAZ-1B.- A.2.2 ALMAZ-2.- A.3 ARISTOTELES.- A.4 ATLAS.- A.5 ATMOS.- A.6 CBERS (China/Brazil - Earth Resources Satellite).- A.7 DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program).- A.7.1 DMSP Data Availability - Visible and Infrared Imagery.- A.8 ECOS-A.- A.8.1 ECOS-A Candidate Sensors for the Earth Observation Mission.- A.8.2 ECOS-A Candidate Sensors - Solar Radiation Flux Mission (L1).- A.9 EOS - Original Program Version.- A.9.1 EOS-A Sensors.- A.9.2 EOS-B Sensors.- A.10 EOS - Restructured Program Version (1992).- A.10.1 Mission to Planet Earth.- A.10.2 EOS AM-1 Mission.- A.10.3 EOS Ocean Color Mission.- A.10.4 EOS Aerosol Mission.- A.10.5 EOS PM-1 Mission.- A.10.6 EOS Altimeter Mission.- A.10.7 EOS Chemistry Mission.- A.10.8 Deferred or Deselected Sensors as a result of Restructuring.- A.10.9 Geostationary Platforms.- A.11 ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite).- A.12 ERS-1 (European Remote-Sensing Satellite).- A.13 ERS-2.- A.14 ETALON.- A.15 Fengyun-1.- A.16 Fengyun-2.- A.17 GEMINI.- A.18 GEO-IK.- A.19 GEOS Missions.- A.20 GEOSAT.- A.21 GLOBSAT.- A.22 GLONASS.- A.23 GPS (NAVSTAR-GPS).- A.23.1 Availability of GPS/GLONASS Systems.- A.23.2 GPS Applications.- A.23.3 CIGNET.- A.23.4 DGPS.- A.23.5 Future of GPS/GLONASS Services.- A.23.6 GPS Information Services for Civil User Community.- A.24 GMS (Geostationary Meteorological Satellite).- A.25 GOMS (Geost. Operational Meteorological Satellite).- A.25.1 Radio Complex for Data Collection, Transmission and Relay.- A.26 HCMM (Heat Capacity Mapping Mission).- A.27 INSAT.- A.28 IRS-1A (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite).- A.28.1 IRS-1B.- A.28.2 IRS-1C/1D.- A.28.3 IRS-1E.- A.29 JERS-1 (Japanese Earth Resources Satellite).- A.30 JPOP (Japanese Polar Platform).- A.31 LAGEOS-I (Laser Geodynamics Satellite).- A.31.1 LAGEOS-II.- A.32 LANDSAT.- A.32.1 Landsat-6.- A.32.2 Landsat-7.- A.32.3 Landsat Archival Data (Status).- A.33 LFC (LARGE FORMAT CAMERA).- A.34 LITE (Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment).- A.35 METEOR-1.- A.36 METEOR-2.- A.37 METEOR-3.- A.38 Meteor-Priroda.- A.39 METEOSAT.- A.39.1 METEOSAT Second Generation.- A.40 MIR-1 Orbital Station.- A.41 MOMS-01.- A.42 MOMS-02.- A.43 MOS (Marine Observation Satellite).- A.44 NIMBUS.- A.45 NOAA-GOES.- A.45.1 NOAA-GOES Second Generation.- A.46 NOAA-POES.- A.46.1 Planned POES series of NOAA.- A.46.2 ARGOS on NOAA-POES Satellites.- A.46.3 S&RSAT on NOAA-POES Satellite Series.- A.47 ODIN.- A.48 OKEAN-O.- A.49 POEM (Polar Orbit Earth-Observation Missions).- A.50 PRARE Tracking System.- A.51 PRIRODA-1.- A.52 RADARSAT.- A.53 RESURS-F.- A.54 RESURS-O.- A.55 Salyut Space Station.- A.56 SAN MARCO D/L.- A.57 SCD1 (Satélite de Coleta de Dados).- A.57.1 SSR1.- A.58 SEASAT.- A.59 SeaStar.- A.60 SIR-A (Shuttle Imaging Radar).- A.61 SIR-B.- A.62 SIR-C/X-SAR.- A.63 SKYLAB Space Station.- A.64 Spacelab-1.- A.65 Spacelab-3.- A.66 SPOT.- A.66.1 Spot-4.- A.66.2 Spot-Radar.- A.67 Starlette.- A.68 Stella.- A.69 TOMS Missions.- A.69.1 TOMS-EP.- A.69.2 TOMS/NSCAT on ADEOS.- A.70 TOPEX/POSEIDON.- A.71 TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission).- A.72 UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite).- B Reference Data and Missions Survey Charts.- B.1 Definitions, Concepts, Summaries.- B.1.1 Remote Sensing across the Electromagnetic Spectrum.- B.1.2 Types and Classes of Remote Sensors and Sensing Data.- B.1.3 Imaging Systems in the Visible and IR Spectra.- B.1.3.1 Resolution (for visible and infrared Imagery).- B.1.3.2 Multispectral Scanners.- B.1.4 Passive Radiometry.- B.1.5 Active Radiometry.- B.1.5.1 Types of Radar Sensors.- B.1.5.2 SAR Terminology and Definitions.- B.1.5.3 Lidars (Laser-Based Remote Sensing).- B.1.6 Summary of Microwave Tracking Systems.- B.1.7 Definitions of Orbital Terminology in Remote Sensing.- Appendix A Definition of the Acronyms.- Appendix B Index Table of Sensors.