The great number of scientists, engineers, and manag-ers who participated in the hitherto existing symposia reflects the high interest in the use of small satellites for dedicated missions applied to earth observation, from scientific earth observation missions to technol-ogy demonstration missions.
These types of missions can be conducted relatively quickly and inexpensively and provide increased op-portunity for access to space.
The spacecraft bus and instruments can be based ei-ther on optimized off-the-shelf systems, with little or no requirements for new technology, or on new high-technology systems. Thus a new class of advanced small satellites, including autonomously operating "intelligent" satellites may be created, opening new fields of application for scientific purposes as well as operational, public and commercial services.
The symposium will provide a forum for scientists, engineers and managers to exchange information about planned and on-going programs and missions, and present new ideas, covering small satellite mis-sion objectives as well as technology and management aspects for dedicated earth observation satellites. Ar-eas of interest include, but are not limited to:
Small Satellite Mission Programs
Small Satellite Technologies