Environmental observations from space present and future

Abstract

Spaceborne systems for measuring and predicting environmental conditions have achieved a level of development that justifies a look at the total environmental system. There are common requirements in all the disciplines, and many of the same measurements are needed to satisfy various discipline needs. It is this factor - the commonality of needs and measurements - that will be used in our future missions. The needs and requirements in the future plan will be faced by combining mission and data requirements that may be satisfied from orbiting spacecraft. There are also similarities in information requirements, as a result of which there is a need for developing an integrated data/information system where information will be produced in a format that will be of immediate utility to the users.