Utilisation of DMC Experience and the potential usage of DMC Services to provide additional support to a European global monitoring system programme

摘要

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd is reviewing the ability of small satellite platforms to add complementary capability to the presently defined Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) space segment, allowing the broadest possible set of user requirements to be met. A set of user-focused services has been compared with the instruments and measurement capabilities defined for the currently proposed Sentinel platforms. This comparison illustrated the challenges of using a few satellites, as in the current Sentinel scenario, carrying multiple instruments to serve the diverse needs of land, coastal, oceanic, emergency response and emergency management users.SSTL has developed the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of micro-satellites at a very low cost, which provide a limited range of land-focused data products in the visible and near infrared wavebands with a highly attractive daily access capability. The study being undertaken by SSTL for the European Space Agency (ESA) aims to analyse the DMC operational concept in a GMES context and define a DMC derived mission concept that could provide supplementary support to the proposed GMES constellation.The paper will present the work being undertaken and the preliminary findings.