A Brief History Of Poem

P. J. Bostok. (1993), JBIS, 46, pp.230-231

Refcode: 1993.46.230

Abstract:

Although the first spacecraft is only just entering the hardware development phase, the POEM programme is effectively a decade old. Indeed the author has been working on the project (albeit intermittently!) since 1984, when British Aerospace performed the first feasibility studies on the mission. The spacecraft platform, or “bus”, to be used within the POEM programme is known as the Polar Platform. In the early studies it was to be a highly ambitious Shuttle-serviced craft with a thirty year lifetime. Now the plans arc more modest, but the satellite will still be one or the most complex developed by ESA. The platform design will be derived from SPOT technology, a heritage shared with ERS-1, and it is being developed by a multinational consortium headed by British Aerospace.