Space-based methods have become one of the major components in the whole set of the Earth exploration methods and means being developed for a long period of history. They played break-point roles in such fileds as hydrometeorology, geodesy and mapping, in study of the solar-terrestrial links, etc. Unfortunately, for another numerous fields of application, space means remained just an addition to the traditional data sources. Here we will talk about space- based observation systems for imaging of Earth by means of electronic scanning. Such systems have developed with continuous increase of the resolution of the Earth observation instruments, of the number of spectral channels, and the swath width. That has resulted in the enlarging of the amount of data obtained by the onboard instrumentation together with the data transmission capacity of the communications channels. As a consequence, data reception from the main space systems which observe the Earth from space can only be carried out by special receiving stations equipped with sophisticated and sometimes unique devices. Parallel to, and independent of, the development of space-based systems, an evolution of computers has been taking place on Earth. Achievements in microelectronics and personal computer development allow us now to process considerable amounts of data at very high rates which can be compared with data rates of the Earth imagery sources. The centralized reception of spaceborne data in systems of Earth exploration from space and the decentralization of data processing by a multitude of users has resulted in a certain contradiction which cannot be compensated by the ground communications means.

Date Published: 12 June 1995
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 2480, Imaging Spectrometry, (12 June 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.210905

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2480:
Imaging Spectrometry
Michael R. Descour; Jonathan Martin Mooney; David L. Perry; Luanna R. Illing, Editor(s)