Earth Observing System: NASA's EOSDIS Development Approach Is Risky. Report tothe Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives

摘要

NASA has initiated a program, called the Earth Observing System (EOS), to collectan integrated set of data to study the earth's atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and land surfaces as a complete system over a 15-year period. The data from EOS will be processed, archived, and distributed by the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS). NASA estimates that EOSDIS development will cost around $3 billion through fiscal year 2000. Given the unprecendented scope of the EOS effort and the critical importance of EOSDIS, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology asked GAO to examine several key aspects of NASA's development approach, including the extent to which EOSDIS (1) will use prototyping to reduce system development costs and risks, and (2) may require technologies that are beyond the current state of the art.