Earth Imaging from Space: New Actors, New Sensors, Better Products, and a Brighter Future?

Gérard Brachet, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
Earth imaging from space has seen a multiplication of new systems operating both in the government sector (CNES, CSA, ESA, ISRO, NASA, etc.), and in the private sector (Space Imaging, DigitalGlobe, Orbimage, ImageSat). These provide services to both the science community and the operational applications users. After many years of development and market research, the Earth imaging industry has finally found its proper place and market, or is it still in its "trial and error" period? The verdict is not certain, but progress in sensor design, efficiency of system operation, and in product generation and delivery to the customer have enlarged the market base and penetration of satellite-based remote sensing technology worldwide. Although sensor performance may seem to be the driving factor, with high ground-resolution images now available to the civilian market, it is a combination of these high sensor performances and much improved overall service to the user community that is enlarging the market base. In parallel, new products generated from the most recent new sensors onboard NASA and other space agencies' spacecraft contribute greatly to our improved understanding of our planet's physical and biogeochemical environment. A review of these new sensors and their relations to market enlargement, as well as to Earth science research, shows that the present combination of cooperation and competition worldwide is indeed a good recipe for progress.

Gérard Brachet

A native of Lyon, France, Gérard Brachet holds an engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Aéronautique (1967) as well as a Master of Sciences in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington (1968).

He began his professional career in 1970 at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (the French Space Agency) where he was successively head of the Orbit Determination and Spacecraft Dynamics Department from 1972 to 1974, head of the Scientific Programs Division from 1975 to 1978 and head of the Application Programmes Division from 1979 to 1982. During this period he helped prepare and implement several major space programs, both at the European level, in his capacity as French delegate to the European Space Agency, and internationally. In particular he was the French signatory for the international SARSAT-COSPAS program for satellite-based search and rescue and subsequently, chairman of the steering committee for the same program. He was also chairman of the European Space Agency's Program Board for Earth observation and in this capacity he helped define the ERS-1 and ERS-2 Earth observation programs.

Brachet was directly involved in defining and developing the French SPOT optical observation satellite program. He took part in the decision to start the program in 1978 and was principally responsible for setting up the SPOT IMAGE company which was assigned the task of marketing the images produced by the SPOT satellites.

In 1982 Brachet was appointed as chairman and chief executive officer of SPOT IMAGE and remained in the position until 1994. In this capacity, he undertook the development of the company that led to the emerging global market for space-based remote sensing imagery. At the same time he acted several times as an advisor on space matters to the European Commission. In particular he chaired a group of European experts on satellite-based Earth observation, and in 1991 and 1992 he helped formulate space policy for the European Union.

Since 1994, Brachet has been back at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales where he has successively held the positions of director for programs, planning and industrial policy until 1996, scientific director, and since July 1997 director general.

From November 1996 to the present, Brachet has been chairman of the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites which gathers 20 space agencies and seven international organizations with the objective of coordinating Earth observation satellite programs.

From 1981 to 1989 Brachet was president of the Société Française de Photogrammétrie et de Télédétection (French Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing). In 1992 he received the Brock Gold Medal Award, a prize which is awarded every four years by the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. He is the only French person to have been distinguished in this way. Brachet is also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a corresponding member of the Académie Nationale de l'Air et de l'Espace (National Air and Space Academy) and is Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite and Officier de la Légion d'Honneur.