NASA has selected two small, low-cost, satellites to study the distribution of the Earth's forests and the variability of its gravity field under a new Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Earth System Science Pathfinders, programme.
The vegetation-canopy lidar (VCL) mission will use a multibeam laser-ranging device to make direct measurements of tree heights, forest-canopy structure and derived parameters such as global biomass.
The University of Maryland will handle experiments on the $59 million VCL mission, while CTA has been chosen to build the 290kg craft and Orbital Sciences of Dulles is to launch it aboard a Pegasus launcher in 2000.
The gravity-recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) will employ a satellite-to-satellite microwave tracking system between two spacecraft to measure the Earth's gravity field. The $89 million Grace mission will involve Loral Space Systems and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as Daimler-Benz Aerospace's Dornier division and GFZfrom Germany.
Source: Flight International
