Potential of the International Space Station for imaging Earth; lessons from MOMS-2P aboard Mir

Digital multispectral imagery collected by using two systems of similar spectral and angular resolution were compared to assess the potential of the International Space Station as an Earth-observing platform. Folds and faults associated with the Neoproterozoic Mai Kenetal synform in northern Ethiopi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2002-09, Vol.30 (9), p.851-854
Main Authors: Stern, Robert J, Beyth, Michael, Bodechtel, Johann, Wetzel, Hans-Ulrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
anticlines
applied (geophysical surveys & methods)
case studies
Earth
East Africa
Ethiopia
faults
folds
Geology
Geophysics
imagery
International Space Station
Landsat
lineaments
Mai Kenetal Synclinorium
Mir space station
Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Stereo Scanner
MOMS-2P
multispectral analysis
multispectral scanner
objectives
orbital observations
remote sensing
satellite methods
Satellites
Space stations
Structural geology
synclines
synclinoria
tectonics
thematic mapper
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Summary:Digital multispectral imagery collected by using two systems of similar spectral and angular resolution were compared to assess the potential of the International Space Station as an Earth-observing platform. Folds and faults associated with the Neoproterozoic Mai Kenetal synform in northern Ethiopia were imaged with the Modular Optoelectronic Multispectral Stereo Scanner (MOMS-2P) on the Russian space station Mir and the free-flying Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) system. The most important difference between MOMS-2P and Landsat TM is the much lower altitude of the former (380 km versus 705 km), so that MOMS-2P has a significantly smaller ground-resolution cell, which reveals details not apparent from TM imagery over the same area. Corresponding improvements in spatial resolution can be expected if any of the free-flying imaging systems (ASTER, SPOT, Hyperion), which fly at altitudes of 700 to 820 km, were mounted on the ISS, which orbits at 380 km. The ultralow orbit of the ISS presents an outstanding, but currently underutilized, opportunity for observing Earth.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0851:POTISS>2.0.CO;2