This year’s Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group (LGSOWG-35) meeting was held in Australia November 13-17, 2006.  The meeting was organized by USGS and hosted by GeoScience Australia in Hobart, Australia.  Participants from 11 countries including members of the Landsat project and NASA staff discussed topics that focused on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the Mid-Decadal Global Land Survey, satellite programmatic issues, the Landsat common metadata format definition, and other programmatic issues and future plans.  A special topic of discussion was the preservation of Landsat archives located around the world at International Cooperator stations.  Each International Cooperator briefed the programmatic status of their systems and provided information regarding the future satellite mission and ground system plans of their agencies.  The Thailand delegation presented information about the Thailand Earth Observation System (THEOS) satellite that is scheduled to launch in 2007.  The Japan delegation presented information about the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) that was launched January 24, 2006.  The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) presented the future plans of its Earth Observation Center.
Contributor: Terry Arvidson