Abstract
ASTER instrument carries stereoscopic subsystem consisting of nadir and rear-viewing telescopes operating in the visible-near infrared wavelengths. This subsystem, configured to provide a base-to-height ratio of 0.6, will acquire along-track, digital stereo data at 15 m resolution over a 60 km ground swath. ASTER topographic data will augment that already available from other sources such as ETOPO 5, DCW and DTED, as well as provide the first coherent, global stereo data set. ASTER OPS is a heritage of Japanese Earth Resources satellite (JERS-1) which was designed primarily to deliver hard-copy stereo pictures for stereoscopic viewing and manual interpretation, and therefore had a base-to-height ratio of. one half that of ASTER.
