A System Engineer’s Guide to Building an Earth Observation Camera

Building Earth Observation Cameras discusses the science and technology of building an electro-optical imaging system for a space platform from concept to space qualification and in-orbit evaluation. The book provides a broad overview of various Earth imaging systems with specific examples illustrating the design and development issues that impacted the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) cameras, and is based on the actual experience of the author, who was intimately involved with the development of cameras for the IRS program.

It equips imaging system project managers, scholars, and researchers with the ability to look deeper into the systems that they are developing, and arms application scientists who use satellite imagery with a greater understanding of the technical aspects and terminology used in defining the performance of the image system. The text traces the historical development of imaging systems, reviews the evolution of Earth observation systems from a global perspective, and examines future trends.

This interdisciplinary work:

• Presents technical issues associated with the design, fabrication, and characterization of the camera
• Provides a narrow focus and end-to-end solutions to all components involved in a successful camera-on-Earth observation system
• Covers various stages including image formation, optics, opto-mechanics, material choice, design tradeoffs, fabrication, evaluation, and finally qualifying the system for space use

Building Earth Observation Cameras provides the tools needed to enable readers to better understand the concepts and challenges involved in building space-based Earth observation systems.