Landsat Gapfiller Satellite Left Out of 2006 Budget Request

摘要

The 2006 White House budget request spreads more than $90 million across three agencies to pay for operation of the Landsat satellites and development of a Landsat instrument that will be placed on a future U.S. government weather satellite. However, no money is designated in the 2006 budget request for a proposed free-flying satellite that would have served to blunt the impact of any potential gap between the end of current satellite operations and the launch of the new spacecraft, agency officials said. Earth observation data has been collected by Landsat satellites since 1972, and current U.S. policy commits the government to cnsuring the continuous collection of Landsat data. Government officials are confident that the two spacecraft now operating in orbit, despite suffering serious problems, will continue to operate until the launch of the new instrument on a new polar orbiting satellite in late 2009.