NASA, responding to increasing scientific and public interest in the greenhouse and ozone hole problems, has recently proposed a bold new program of satellite-based global environmental monitoring. Called the 'Mission to Planet Earth', NASA's new project would be the largest unmanned space program ever, costing between 1 and 2 billion dollars each year for the next 15 to 20 years. The 'Mission' project would be coordinated with similar efforts by Japan and the European Space Agency. Extensive global data would be collected to monitor atmospheric pollution, clouds, ice, and biological activity on both land and in the oceans. The master plan calls for a variety of satellites in polar, equatorial, and geosynchronous orbits.
At the present time, NASA has only limited funding to plan the details of Mission to Planet Earth. The first phase, involves launching an Earth Observing System satellite by 1997, most of the Earth Observing System work is being done by the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Lab.[Mission to Planet Earth, Covault, Aviation Week & Space Tech,March 13, 1989] ***