PREFACE - Introductory Remarks

Yoshiaki Toba
Chief Scientist
Earth Observation Research and application Center, Japan Space Exploration Agency

Earth observation from space began when TIROS was launched by the United States of America in 1962. TIROS was followed by many satellites of the United States, the former Soviet Union and other countries. Through these satellites, numerous scientific findings and useful tools for assessing the Earth and its environment have been acquired and developed.

Recently, we have observed that our living environment on Earth has been deteriorating and that this deterioration might have been caused by our economic and social growth since the Industrial Revolution. In 1992, the United Nations' Earth Summit adopted a resolution to preserve the Earth environment for the next generation from a global point of view. To contribute to the implementation of this resolution, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (JAXA) will deploy the Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (ADEOS) in 1996. ADEOS employs eight instruments provided by five agencies from Japan, the United States and France.

To understand the mechanisms of the Earth system and to predict global change, we should further advance Earth science research activities. To fully utilize satellite data to clarify these mechanisms, we believe that close cooperation among Earth scientists and space agencies is essential. We have established the Earth Observation Research and application Center (EORC) to promote such cooperation.

The EORC will also be a center for developing new technologies for applications such as environmental assessment, land-use analyses and resource exploitation. We will promote this new endeavor by gathering support from scientists from various disciplines and would welcome your valuable cooperation.

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