INTRODUCTION

Before submitting an ASTER User Authorization proposal, you should determine whether the necessary data have already been acquired. Do this through the  Earth Observing System Data Gateway (EDG) search and order tools. Previously acquired data are available to anyone.

Proposal Types

Two types of proposals may be submitted from this site. These are:

1. Research proposal for basic or applied research
2. Educational proposal

Requests from commercial users are being managed by Japan GDS under the General Program Request (GPR).

The user authorization proposal

To become authorized, submit a short ASTER user authorization proposal including:

• A brief description of the research (or other project)
• An explanation of how ASTER data would be used
• The credentials of the potential user, and
• The size of the geographic areas to be observed.
   

Evaluating the proposal

NASA’s ASTER User Authorization Committee will evaluate your proposal.  Educational proposals will be forwarded to NASA Headquarters for evaluation.

If your proposal is accepted, you will be notified by electronic mail, instructed how and when to request new ASTER data, and informed of the amount of new ASTER data that has been allocated. If your proposal is declined, you will be informed why the proposal was turned down.

CAVEAT

For a variety of reasons, even if a proposal is accepted and you enter a data acquisition request, there is no guarantee that ASTER can acquire the requested data.

• ASTER observing resources are limited and different requests for new data will often compete for use of the instrument at the same time.
• Even if ASTER observes the right area at the right time of the year, the resulting data may not meet your requirements (e.g. the site might have been covered by clouds).

User Authorization Proposal

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