By Aazam
On October 18, the Canadian government declared that it will support the creation of a satellite and other sensors for a NASA-led Earth science initiative
With launches beginning in 2028, the complete AOS system will include at least four satellites in polar and inclined orbits
The French space agency CNES and the Japanese space agency JAXA are also contributing, in addition to the Canadian contribution
In order to address global concerns, Canada has always played a significant role in international space initiatives, according to Champagne
The Earth System Observatory, which includes AOS, is a comprehensive set of missions created to carry out the recommendations of the most recent Earth science decadal assessment, published in early 2018
Two of the five "targeted observables" from that report—atmosphere and clouds, convection, and precipitation—would be supported by the AOS series of satellites
The concept evaluations for AOS and other missions were completed, and NASA also carried out a separate assessment of the entire Earth System Observatory
She explained that the objective of that impartial assessment was to "truly look across the whole thing and see if we missed anything" in the process of formulating it
This summer, three Earth System Observatory missions, including AOS, finished mission concept assessments. This fall, they are anticipated to pass Key Decision Point (KDP)