COORDINATION OF SATELLITE AND DATA PROGRAMS - THE COMMITTEE ON EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES APPROACH

Every year, an average of eight new civilian remote sensing satellite missions are launched. Cumulatively, over 250 such missions, each with a cost equivalent in current value to between $US 100 million to $US 1000 million, have been sponsored by space agencies in perhaps two doz en countries. These missions produce data and information products whi ch are vital for informed decision making all over the world, on matte rs relating to natural resource exploitation, health and safety, susta inable national development, infrastructure planning, and a host of ot her applications. By contributing to better scientific understanding o f global changes in the atmosphere, land surface, oceans and ice caps, these silently orbiting sentinels in the sky make it possible for gov ernments and industries to make wiser environmental policy decisions a nd support the economic development needs of humanity. The internation al Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) is the premier wor ld body for co-ordinating and planning civilian satellite missions for Earth observation. Through its technical working groups and special t ask teams, it endeavours to: maximise the international benefits from Earth observation satellites; and harmonise practice in calibration, v alidation, data managment and information systems for Earth observatio n. CEOS encompasses not only space agencies (data providers), but also the great international scientific and operational programs which rel y on Earth science data from space. The user organisations affiliated with CEOS, together with the mission operators, attempt to reconcile u ser needs with the complex set of considerations - including national interests, cost, schedule which affect the undertaking of space missio ns. Without such an internationally co-ordinated consensual approach, there is a much greater risk of waste through duplication, and of miss ed opportunity, or through the absence of measurements of some vital p hysical or biological parameter by space borne sensors. Mechanisms use d by CEOS to carry out these tasks are built upon consensus and unders tanding, as well as on technology transfer between countries. An area of recent heightened endeavour in CEOS has been to determine and addre ss the special needs of developing countries in respect of Earth obser vation data. In the next several years, a new wave of Earth observatio n will break, as the private sector, revitalised with decommissioned m ilitary technology, brings exciting new capabilities to international remote sensing. With rapidly burgeoning markets in spatial information or geomatics, as well as the continuing thirst of science programs fo r spatial information, there is a challenge upon the international spa ce community to reassess continually, the most expedient and socially constructive means of making available in a fair and open way, geograp hically-reference information obtained with space observation systems. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.