NASA will fly an enhanced "revolutionary" Earth observation instrument, the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer, as the New Millennium Programme's $105 million Earth Observing 3 mission in 2003.
The imager will test advanced technologies for measuring temperature, water vapour, wind and chemical composition to improve weather forecasts and make observations of the spectral properties of clouds and the transport of pollutants in the atmosphere.
The first Earth Observing mission of the New Millennium programme is due for launch in spring to demonstrate an advanced land-imager system and hyperspectral imaging technologies that could eventually replace the current measurement approach used by Landsat satellites.
Source: Flight International