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CONTENTSCommentary
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites(CEOS)
CEOS Working Group Structure
Review of Past Activities: The CEOS Dossier
CEOS Activity Plan for 1993---This page
CEOS Data Exchange Principles
Summary of CEOS Ad Hoc Data Policy Meeting
Summary of User Requirement Workshop
1993 CEOS Meeting Calender
CEOS Activity Plan for 1993
Akihiro Fujita
Director, International Space Affairs Division,
Science and Technology Agency, Japan
Since the establishment of CEOS in 1984, this international coordination body has been performing a very active and important role in coordinating in satellite programs among members, and standardizing of data products and data policy.
- CEOS will continue and strengthen such activities in 1993. The areas
of CEOS primary interest for 1993 are as follows: 1)Continuation of coordination
on Earth observation missions among CEOS members With long-term Earth observation
satellite programs being initiated by CEOS members, it is appropriate to
further promote overall coordination of Earth observation satellite missions,
instruments and ground segments. CEOS working groups will accelerate their
activities to standardize a catalog system, data formats, network systems
and to ensure interoperability of data systems being planned by CEOS members.
2)Further strengthening interaction and communication between data "users"
and "data providers." Based on an initiative of UK Prime Minister Major,
a dialogue was opened between the space agencies and environmental data
users with participation of international global change research. Recent
CEOS activities have emphasized reviewing and identifying data requirements
for global change research organization are being requested to review the
data specification in CEOS Dossier and examine how well their requirements
are being met. CEOS Dossier contains detailed information on satellite
programs including satellite missions, instruments and ground systems.
A CEOS data requirement workshop was planned in May to address the data
requirements for the global research and other applications. In the meeting,
integrated data requirements for international global change research organizations
presented and discussed by the research organizations and space agencies
was made. 3) Additional volume of "CEOS Dossier" "CEOS Dossier" is a most
important document which contains detailed information on Earth observation
programs. At the last CEOS Plenary, it was recommended that an additional
volume be prepared to facilitate study of satellite data, such as Earth
resources monitoring data. At the Ad Hoc Data Meeting in May, Canada presented
an outline of the proposed CEOS dossier, and CEOS participants will dicuss
the new volume in the plenary. 4)Demonstration of data exchange mechanism
for global research through pilot project In accordance with a 1992 plenary
meeting action item, a pilot project to implement the data exchange principle
is being planned and finalized in coordination with the International Geosphere
Program(IGBP). At the Ad Hoc Data Policy Meeting in May, the implementation
plan for the pilot project was discussed. IGBP presented its data requirements
for high-resolution data of HRV/SPOT, TM/Landsat and MESSR/MOS-1. IGBP
and space agencies will develop detailed data requirements and data provision
plans and, after coordination, will initiate the data exchange. 5)Adoption
of SAFISY Earth Science and Technology projects In response to a request
from the Space Agency Forum for International Space Year(SAFISY), CEOS
agreed to adopt and oversee ISY Earth Science and Technology projects if
funding agencies agree to continue supporting the projects. CEOS will monitor
and report on these projects in the Plenary. CEOS will see an increasing
number of members, observers and affiliates and will truly become a forum
for coordination and communication for Earth observation programs. As the
CEOS Plenary host nation for 1993, Japan believes it appropriate to combine
the programs of the CEOS members and establish the concept of a worldwide
Earth observation satellite constellation. There are many discussions and
increasing interest in expanding access to environmental data. In response,
CEOS Secretariat proposed to jointly explore the feasibility of a global
satellite observation and information network this year. The global satellite
observation and information network conceptually consists of coordinating
well worldwide satellite plan and promoting to distribute the satellite
observation data through the worldwide network. I hope that the concept
should be discussed at the next CEOS Plenary meeting.
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