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and the multispectral sensor will have 4 meter spatial
resolution and four spectral bands in the 450 to 520nm,
530 to 590nm, 630 to 690nm and 770 to 900nm ranges.
Orbit parameters and stereoscopic capabilities will be
similar to EarlyBird.
6.6 Space Imaging
Space Imaging Inc, is a partnership with Lockheed-Martin
Co., E-Systems/Raytheon, Mitsubishi Corp. and Eastman
Kodak Co. They plan to launch a satellite in 1997 that will
be similar to EarthWatch's systems in that it will carry both
panchromatic and multispectral sensors. The
panchromatic sensor will operate over a spectral range of
500 to 900 nanometers with 1 meter spatial resolution.
The multispectral sensor will have 5 bands in spectral
ranges of 450 to 520nm, 520 to 600nm, 630 to 690nm, 760
to 900nm and 1550 to 1750nm with 4 meter spatial
resolution. The planned orbit will be at 680 km and the
sensor will cover a swath width of 60 km. The sensor will
have fore-and-aft and side-to-side pointing capability for
stereoscopy.
6.7 Eyeglass
Orbital Sciences Corporation, in partnership with Itek and
GDE is building the Eyeglass satellite to be launched in
1997. The satellite will carry a panchromatic sensor
operating in the 500 to 900nm spectral range with 1 meter
spatial resolution. The orbit will be at 700 km, with a swath
width of 15 km and it will have along track stereo capability.
6.8 Resource21
Boeing and Pioneer Hi-Bred International are developing a
multisatellite system with 10 meter spatial resolution to
provide weekly information to farmers.
6.9 Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI)
The U. S. Department of Energy, Sandia Laboratories is
developing a 15 band instrument with 10 bands in the
VNIR/SWIR and 5 bands in the TIR. Nine of the
reflectance bands have 5 meter spatial resolution and 5
bands in the TIR and 1 band in the SWIR have 40 meter
resolution over a 12km swath. The preliminary design
phase for the instrument has been completed and launch
is expected in 1998.
6.10 Sacagawea
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing a light satellite
that will provide spatial resolution of 15m to 30m in 5 - 10
spectral bands in the 3 to 5um and 8 to 14um portions of
the spectrum, (Kahle et. al., 1995).
6.11 China-Brazil Resources Satellite (CBERS)
A cooperative ongoing program between China and Brazil
is to launch a natural resources satellite in 1997. The
satellite will carry 3 sensors: a CCD camera, an Infrared
Multispectral Scanner and a Wide Field Imager. The CCD
Camera will have 1 panchromatic band (510 to 730nm) and
4 spectral bands (450 to 520nm, 520 to 590nm, 630 to
690nm and 770 to 890nm). The CCD camera will have 20
695
meter spatial resolution and a 120 km swath. Off nadir
viewing will provide a revisit time of 3 days, while nadir
viewing will revisit every 26 days. The IR-MSS will have 1
panchromatic band (500 to 1100nm) with 80 meter spatial
resolution and 3 multispectral bands with 160 meter spatial
resolution (1550 to 1750nm, 2080 to 2350nm and 10400 to
12500nm bandpasses), and a 120 km swath width. The
Wide Field Sensor (WFI) will have two bands (630 to
690nm and 760 to 900nm), spatial resolution of 260 meters
and a ground swath of 900km. It will provide cloud-free
coverage every 3 to 5 days.
6.12 Importance of High-Spatial
Resolution/Stereoscopic Systems for Geologic and
Mineral Resources Applications
Satellite systems which provide 5 meter or less spatial
resolution over swaths of more than 30 kilometers will allow
geoscientists to construct digital topographic maps at
1:25,000 scale with 10 meter contour accuracy.
Furthermore those systems which also collect multispectral
data at 5 meter to 15 meter spatial resolution will allow
thematic maps of general surface cover types to be
constructed at 1:25,000 scale. These data types, coupled
with Global Positioning System data, will revolutionize
geologic investigations in relatively poorly mapped areas.
6.13 Government Sponsored Versus Commercial
Market-driven Satellite Technologies.
In 1996, 36 new satellite systems were planned for launch
within the next eight years. About one third of the 36 new
satellite systems are entirely new commercial satellite
systems. These commercial ventures range in initial
capital expenditures from $70 million to over $300 million
and the return on the corporate investments is to be
generated through the commercial sale of imagery. Over
the next decade a market-driven image data economy will
emerge and this new marketplace will change the
paradigms of image data availability and the costs for earth
resources data.
7.0 RECENT ADVANCES IN DATA PROCESSING
AND INTEGRATION
The above advances in sensor technology, combined with
the prospects of improved spatial resolution becoming
available in the near future, and being paralleled by the
development of new and innovative approaches for data
processing and integration. Much of this effort is likely to
bring considerable benefits to geological and mineral
resources applications of remotely sensed data.
Furthermore, the rapidly increasing processing power of
affordable desktop computers, combined with the advent
of graphical user interface driven software, is progressively
putting data processing within the reach of even small
mineral resource companies and geoscientists.
One experimental area which is rapidly developing is that
of detailed mineral identification and mapping, and their
applications to exploration, mapping and environment. A
number of techniques have been developed to take full
advantage of hyperspectral data, such as spectral angle
mapping (Kruze, et. al., 1993), convex geometry analysis
(Boardman and Kruse, 1994), constrained energy
minimization (Ferrand and Harsanyi, 1994) Tricorder (Clark
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996
