Many of the aircraft normally used for damage assessment and monitoring were either destroyed or diverted to direct rescue. As a result, rescue and re-supply efforts were hampered by a lack of accurate information and coordination among the federal, state and municipal agencies.

Responsive Space, which refers to a system of low-cost small satellites launched when needed on inexpensive expendable rockets, could enhance our response to what forecasters expect will be several decades of severe weather events. These launch vehicles and payloads would be built to inventory and stored for launch as needed.

The combination of various small satellite payloads and low-cost, responsive launch vehicles (such as Microcosm's Sprite) could provide improved weather prediction, real-time monitoring of a stricken area, and nearly immediate restoration of communications services needed for relief efforts.

Responsive Space disaster monitoring satellites could be launched within hours for a cost of approximately $20 million per mission (including the cost of the satellite, launch, and operations), as compared to delays of years and a cost $150 million to over $1 billion for current traditional missions.

Typical Responsive Missions include a wind lidar satellite that could provide 3-dimensional wind measurements every 90 minutes for 9 hours per day over the entire Gulf of Mexico region for substantially improved longer-term weather predication, or a small communications satellite in a highly elliptical orbit providing 6 hours per day of mobile communications to rescue personnel.

(This could be extended to 24 hours/day with three additional satellites.) To monitor ground conditions in a stricken area, a low-cost satellite could provide high-resolution resolution imaging every 90 minutes for 6 to 8 hours per day.

These added capabilities would enable rescuers to locate people and problems in most immediate need, assess the changing situation, track supplies, and get help quickly where it is needed most.

Microcosm's Sprite low-cost, responsive launch vehicle, which requires minimal launch infrastructure, would be an integral part of a Responsive Space disaster monitoring program. Sprite is capable of launching various small satellites weighing up to 810 lbs. into low earth orbit within 8 hours of a previously unidentified demand for $4.2 million.

Dr. James Wertz, president of Microcosm, a firm specializing in advanced space mission engineering, is available to discuss the ramifications of implementing a Responsive Space disaster monitoring program. He is the author of leading text and reference books in space technology, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a Fellow of both the British Interplanetary Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at the University of Southern California.

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