Some aspects of establishing and developing remote sensing of the Earth’s surface from space

Abstract

Remote sensing of our planet from space currently provides data for both Earth sciences (geography, geology, volcanology, geoinformatics, cartography, climatology, meteorology, oceanology, seismology, etc.) and applied problems in many areas of human activity. Already the early years of the space age saw the emergence of two areas of spacecraft use that were of great interest to military circles: Earth observation from space and communications. It was the photographic exploration that predetermined the beginning of the interaction between astronautics and Earth sciences. In addition to the obvious need and importance of using space methods, the cartography focused on meteorological tasks. This area of space instrumentation played a decisive role in the subsequent use of space sensing of the Earth’s surface for civil purposes and in the creation of special scientific and technical productions.