Investment in understanding the Earth pays off twice. It enables pursuit of scientific questions that rank among the most interesting and profound of our time. It also serves society's practical need for increased prosperity and security. Over the last half-century, we have built a sophisticated network of satellites, aircraft, and ground-based remote sensing systems to provide raw information from which we derive Earth knowledge. This network has served us well in the development of science and the provision of operational services. In the next decade, the demand for such information will grow dramatically. New remote sensing capabilities will emerge. Rapid evolution of Internet geospatial and location-based services will make communication and sharing of Earth knowledge easier. Governments, businesses, and consumers will all benefit. But this exciting future is threatened from many directions. Risks range from technology and market uncertainties in the private sector to budget cuts and project setbacks in the public sector. The coming decade will see a dramatic confrontation between the vision of what needs to be accomplished in Earth remote sensing and the reality of our resources and commitment. The outcome will have long-term implications for both the remote sensing community and society as a whole.
Investment in understanding the Earth pays off twice. It enables pursuit of scientific questions that rank among the most interesting and profound of our time. It also serves society's practical need for increased prosperity and security. Over the last half-century, we have built a sophisticated network of satellites, aircraft, and ground-based remote sensing systems to provide the raw information from which we derive Earth knowledge. This network has served us well in the development of science and the provision of operational services. In the next decade, the demand for such information will grow dramatically. New remote sensing capabilities will emerge. Rapid evolution of Internet geospatial and location-based services will make communication and sharing of Earth knowledge much easier. Governments, businesses, and consumers will all benefit. But this exciting future is threatened from many directions. Risks range from technology and market uncertainties in the private sector to budget cuts and project setbacks in the public sector. The coming decade will see a dramatic confrontation between the vision of what needs to be accomplished in Earth remote sensing and the reality of our resources and commitment. The outcome will have long-term implications for both the remote sensing community and society as a whole.
Architecture-level studies have assessed the merits of a Distributed architecture for NOAA's next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, the GOES-R series. In contrast with the historical Consolidated architecture, which aggregates all GOES instruments on a single platform at each of the 75 and 135 W operating locations, the proposed Distributed architectures split up the GOES instrument suites onto multiple platforms, with sets of platforms located at each longitude. Analyses demonstrate significant advantages to distributing GOES instruments across multiple platforms, including superior deployment options and significantly increased system-level reliability. These benefits can substantially lower overall risk exposure and increase the on-orbit constellation life. In addition, the properties of Distributed architectures permit several features that provide substantial benefit for GOES-R and follow-on systems. These features include enhanced measurements and better requirements allocation, enabling performance and cost advantages for future pre-planned instrument enhancements. Distributed architectures also enable superior upgrade paths through better options for demonstrating and validating new technologies, inserting new technologies (such as microwave sensors) into existing constellations, and refreshing on-orbit instruments.
Conference Committee Involvement (6)
Remote Sensing System Engineering VI
1 September 2016 | San Diego, California, United States
Remote Sensing System Engineering V
18 August 2014 | San Diego, California, United States
Remote Sensing System Engineering IV
12 August 2012 | San Diego, California, United States
Remote Sensing System Engineering III
2 August 2010 | San Diego, California, United States
Remote Sensing System Engineering II
4 August 2009 | San Diego, California, United States
Remote Sensing System Engineering
11 August 2008 | San Diego, California, United States
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.