Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
place. 68 During that time, two additional Landsat satellites were launched to provide continuity
of data delivery, but the development of a more advanced operational system was
put on hold. These satellites did carry one new instrument, the Thematic Mapper (TM),
which was a significant improvement over the Multispectral Scanner that had been carried
on the initial satellites. The most provocative proposal to come from private industry was
from Comsat in July 1981 to take on full responsibility for both Earth resource and meteorological
satellites. 69 [II-33] Many observers had doubted that commercialization could
protect the public interest in meteorological satellite data; similar concerns were voiced
with respect to Earth resource satellites. 70 [II-34]
President Reagan proved an even stronger supporter of the transfer of government
projects to private industry than President Carter had been. In March 1983, Reagan
announced a decision to transfer Landsat, the meteorological satellites, and future ocean
observation satellites to private industry. 71 As already mentioned, Congress rejected the
idea of transferring the meteorological satellite program to private industry. [II-35]
However, the Department of Commerce proceeded with a request for proposals from private
industry for operational control of the Landsat system. 72 Congress passed a bill setting
the terms for transfer in 1984, and the Earth Observation Satellite Company (EOSAT), a
joint venture of Hughes and RCA, won the competition. [II-36]
This 1984 legislation supported the concept of providing sufficient subsidy to continue
Landsat operations while EOSAT built a market for data. Department of Commerce
officials envisioned that with government help, EOSAT would build Landsats 6 and 7.
Eventually, administration and congressional supporters believed, the data market would
grow large enough to support entirely private ownership and operation of future Landsat
systems. NOAA’s 1985 Commercialization Plan called for continued government funding
of $250 million to build Landsats 6 and 7. 73 To assist in this process, EOSAT began building
its own operations control and receiving station in Norman, Oklahoma.
In the fall of 1985, EOSAT complicated negotiations over the amount of subsidy by
proposing to fly the TM on a spacecraft designed to be launched by the Space Shuttle. 74
Despite the loss of the orbiter Challenger in January 1986, NOAA agreed to the proposal in
March 1986; in August of the same year, the Reagan administration issued a decision lim-
68. William H. Gregory, “Free Enterprise and Landsat,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 113 (July 14,
1980): 13; Ed Harper to Craig Fuller and Martin Anderson, “Resolution of Issues Related to Private Sector
Transfer of Civil Land Observing Satellite Activities,” July 13, 1981; National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, “Transfer of the Civil Operational Earth Observation Satellites to the Private Sector,” draft,
January 19, 1983. The last two documents are located in the Space Policy Institute Documentary History
Collection, Washington, DC.
69. Communications Satellite Corporation News Release, “Comsat President Proposes Bold
Restructuring of Earth Sensing Satellite Systems,” July 23, 1981, Space Policy Institute Documentary History
Collection, Washington, DC.
70. David A. Stockman, Office of Management and Budget, to Malcolm Baldridge, Secretary of
Commerce, May 9, 1983. See Pamela E. Mack, “Commercialization, International Cooperation, and the Public
Good,” in Daniel S. Papp and John R. McIntyre, eds., International Space Policy: Legal, Economic, and Strategic
Options for the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1987), pp. 195–202.
71. “Statement by Dr. John V. Byrne, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce,” March 8, 1983, Space Policy Institute Documentary History Collection,
Washington, DC.
72. U.S. Department of Commerce, “Request for Proposals for Transfer of the United States Land
Remote Sensing Program to the Private Sector,” January 3, 1984.
73. Landsat proponents argued that nearly double this amount was necessary to ensure adequate support
for the commercialization process, but David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget
under President Reagan, would agree only to the $250 million.
74. At the time, NASA envisioned being able to launch the Shuttle into polar orbit from Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California. Landsat satellites then would have been serviced in orbit by Shuttle crews.