The current OST constellation User Requirement Document (URD) is the 2009 "Next 15 years of altimetry" report. A re-assessment of user requirements will be undertaken considering recent activities related to future altimetry missions.
The OST-VC has been brought up-to-date on the status of the SAOO URD. It has been agreed that this will be the baseline for the OST-VC led URD. A side meeting with the OST-VC members will be held during the OSTST Meeting in Chicago, October 2019, to establish the way forward and distribute tasks.
New OST-VC white paper on user requirements will consider the current activities related to preparation of future Copernicus Altimetry missions (Sentinel-3 C/D units, Sentinel-3 Topography and Sentinel-6 Next Generation, CRISTAL) with important outcomes expected by beginning of 2022. A side meeting will be held during the next OSTST Meeting in Venice, March 2022, to establish the way forward and distribute tasks.
The deliverable is in preparation. We will take the opportunity of the next OSTST ( Venice, 31 October - 4 November 2022) to organize an OST-VC side meeting with the members of the VC. We plan to review together the outline of the document we have prepared. We would like to update the title of the document with ' Current and Future Altimetry Missions: Towards 2050'. New completion date Q4 2023.
OST-VC is awaiting the outcome of the current preparatory activities for future Copernicus altimetry missions. The gaps left to be filled (particularly related to non-Copernicus opportunities and missions will be assessed). The final deliverable will then be ready around Q1 2023.
The writing team (EUMETSAT/CNES) has made good progress in the preparation of the white paper. A draft version will be shared with OST-VC members by the end of Q2 2024 for review. The status will be presented to the community during the '30 YEARS OF PROGRESS IN RADAR ALTIMETRY' symposium in Montpellier in September 2024. The final deliverable should be ready by the end of 2024.