Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 169
untested technology. 51
Data processing and distribution provided even more serious challenges: a satellite
taking pictures of the entire Earth, even at a spatial resolution of about 100 meters, would
quickly produce an overwhelming amount of data. Effective use, particularly coverage of
large areas and repeated coverage of the same scene to observe changes, would require
analysis by computer rather than by a human photointerpreter. However, technology for
such large-scale image processing had not yet been developed in the civilian world. 52
Budgetary constraints proved even more serious than technical problems. Facing
declining support for the space program once NASA reached its Apollo goal, the space
agency’s leaders attempted to capitalize on the usefulness of space to promote applications
programs. 53 [II-18, II-19, II-20] The strategy did not work; the Bureau of the Budget
repeatedly deleted the ERTS project from the budgets of NASA and the Department of
the Interior. [II-21] In fact, the strategy of promoting usefulness may have backfired: the
Bureau of the Budget (Office of Management and Budget after 1970) repeatedly asked
NASA to prove that the benefits of Landsat would exceed the costs. NASA sponsored the
required studies and also appealed cuts in the project’s budget directly to the president. 54
The Department of the Interior obtained funding to build a data processing and distribution
center only with the help of Republican Senator Karl Mundt of South Dakota.
Senator Mundt had become a major supporter of the project when the Department of the
Interior decided to locate its data processing center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 55 [II-22]
Despite all the discord, the first satellite proved a technical success. NASA launched
Landsat 1 on July 23, 1972, and scientists quickly found many uses for the data. Prior to
the satellite’s launch, NASA had received more than 600 proposals from scientists and others
requesting funding to investigate uses of data from the satellites. More than 200 proposals
from U.S. investigators and 100 from overseas were funded; these scientists stood
ready to use Landsat data as soon as they became available.
The use of Landsat data raised a number of issues. Developing countries had initially
worried about the misuse of data gathered without their consent, but when satellite data
began to arrive, they found it of considerable value in providing information on areas that
were inadequately mapped. [II-23] Despite these benefits, debate continued over international
political and legal issues associated with remote sensing. [II-24] Landsat data
proved useful to scientists of many sorts, for everything from searching for oil to mapping
ice. 56 Yet unlike meteorological satellites, whose data proved more useful to weather forecasters
than to research scientists building models, Landsat data were quickly used by
researchers, and much more slowly such data found widespread operational use. NASA
leaders discovered that if the space agency did not find ways to convince potential users
51. Mack, Viewing the Earth, pp. 66–79. NASA was not allowed to use better tested technology that had
been developed for reconnaissance satellites.
52. Badgley to Distribution, “Meeting of Earth Resources User Agency Representatives, April 20, 1967,”
May 4, 1967; Mack, Viewing the Earth, pp. 107–18.
53. Leonard Jaffe to the Record, “Commentary Delivered by Mr. Leonard Jaffe at the Airlie House
Planning Seminar, June 1966,” July 8, 1966, Space Policy Institute Documentary History Collection, Washington,
DC.
54. Mack, Viewing the Earth, pp. 80–93. This issue continued even after launch. See Paul A. Vander Myde
to George M. Low, February 25, 1975, Space Policy Institute Documentary History Collection, Washington, DC.
55. Press release from the office of Senator Karl E. Mundt, March, 30, 1970, Space Policy Institute
Documentary History Collection, Washington, DC; David L. Stenseth, “EROS—The Local Story,” IDEL Earth Trak
1 (June 1974): 4–5; Mack, Viewing the Earth, pp. 132–45.
56. Anthony J. Calio to Director, Johnson Space Center, “Earth Resources Briefing for Petroleum
Industry Representatives,” November 12, 1973; Charles D. Centers to Mathews, February 15, 1973. Both documents
are located in the Space Policy Institute Documentary History Collection, Washington, DC.