Announcement Of Opportunity Research Articles

The preliminary evaluation program for SPOT (PEPS)

Abstract The unique features of the the SPOT program and the intense interest aroused within the international remote sensing user community have induced the organization of a promotional image evaluation program, to highlight the usefulness, the original features, and the quality of images returned by the satellite. Started in March 1984 with the announcement of opportunity, the program has already gone through the process of selecting from among the 315 project proposals received worldwide, the negotiation and signing of agreements with the corresponding Principal Investigators. The launching of SPOT 1 has started the second phase of the program, which, with the delivery of data ensured on a priority and promotional prices basis, will culminate in an International Symposium for the presentation of results in 1987. Special consideration is given to Asia, with the full list of project proposals selected from over 6 countries of the Region.

Scatterometer investigations

An announcement of opportunity has been released for scientific participation in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Scatterometer (NSCAT) program, which will be carried aboard the U.S. Navy Remote Ocean Sensing System (N‐ROSS) satellite, currently scheduled for launch in mid‐1989. NSCAT is an active microwave instrument designed to measure wind speed and direction near the sea surface. The expected duration of the NSCAT/N‐ROSS mission is 3 years.

Pioneer Venus

In the tradition of the NASA special publications on planetary missions, the book, Pioneer Venus, offers a piece of history for a small investment. After a brief historical introduction, this book provides an informal but thorough documentation of a successful planetary mission with the human element very much at the forefront. Even the politics of funding are given acknowledgment. The amount of thought and planning that went into the design of the Pioneer Venus mission, from the feasibility studies and the announcement of opportunity in 1971 to the arrival of the orbiter and multiprobe spacecraft at Venus in late 1978, is given testimonial by the first half of the book, which is replete with tables and figures. It is evident from the vitality with which the two chapters on such mundane but crucial matters as mission operations, parachute development, tracking, data systems, and spacecraft engineering are written that the authors were intensely and actively involved in all aspects of the project. A separate chapter on scientific investigations gives brief descriptions of the experiments, highlighted with photographs of the instruments and principal investigators. The selection of experiments is especially noteworthy because the Pioneer Venus spacecraft was carefully outfitted to return complementary measurements, a trend that today's mission planners also adhere to.

Opportunity to participate in NASA LPO mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) providing information and guidelines for prospective investigators who are interested in participating in the Lunar Polar Orbiter (LPO) mission, tentatively planned for a June 1980 launch.The LPO will be a cost‐limited geochemical, geophysical, and geological mission capable of extending to the entire moon the orbital and surface science results obtained from previous lunar missions, expecially Apollo. Because of the applicability of LPO objectives and concepts to the exploration of planetary bodies with limited atmospheres, this mission may serve as a scientific prototype for similar missions to Mars and to Mercury.