GANDER - a constellation of microsats designed to reduce risks at sea

If the community of users of satellite observations of the marine environme nt is to be widened to include those involved in daily commercial operation s then special-purpose systems should be designed to meet their everyday re quirements. for the last two decades the major customer for the observation s from a succession of single satellite missions has been the community of marine scientists. A low-cost constellation of microsats that will allow in formation on sea state to be delivered to ships in real time is described. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.