ABSTRACT
We saw in Chapter 1 how remote sensing is a natural facility of mankind, but one which benefits greatly from technological assistance. We saw also how technologically assisted remote sensing effectively took off with the development of aircraft in the early twentieth century. However, there can be no doubt that the greatest single fillip to the growth of environmental remote sensing to the level we find today has been the development of satellite remote sensing platform/sensor combinations. The 'space age' can be said to have begun on 4 October 1957 when Sputnik 1, the Russian automatic satellite, circled the Earth, sending back locational bleeps. The 'satellite remote sensing age' may be said to have begun on 1 April 1960 when TIROS 1, the prototype meteorological satellite, was placed in orbit. Since then there has been an accelerating rate of advance in space technology, at first mainly as a result of work in the Soviet Union and the USA, but more recently supplemented by the endeavours of other individual nations, of which Japan is by far the most prominent example, followed by the group of nations subscribing to the European Space Agency.
