Publisher's Synopsis
The growth in the number of scientific and commercial space missions planned through the 1990s and into the next century, requires that facilities are made available to archive, process and disseminate data derived from the satellites to the users. These functions are naturally carried out at a data centre or through a hierarchy of data and value added centres, where each layer adds more detail and accuracy to the final product.;Following on from Volume I in which the architecture of a ground segment designed to support a wide range of space missions was described, the author concentrates on the issues that control and effect the design of a data centre. The book describes and illustrates the principles behind the design and functions of a generic data centre, ie, one that is capable of supporting any kind of space exploitation, both commercial and scientific. The author describes the main functions - archiving, cataloguing, user support and training - and the problems faced by designers of such facilities. The text provides an important contribution to the future exploitation of space for research and commercial applications. It highlights the changes taking place over the next few years and extrapolates from the historical development the architectures of the future space and ground segments. The study will be of interest to space and ground segment designers, research scientists and commer
