Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

174
OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
alent data on the scale needed by federal agencies. 79 Finally, the advent of the geographic
information system (GIS) and the development of other information technologies, such
as high-powered computers, inexpensive storage devices, and the Internet, promised to
reduce the costs and complexities of processing Landsat data. 80
As a result of these and other pressures to continue collecting Landsat data, in 1992
the administration, with the strong support of Congress, moved to place operational control
of Landsat 7 and beyond to DOD and NASA. [II-38] Under the Landsat management
plan negotiated between DOD and NASA, DOD agreed to fund the development of the
spacecraft and its instruments, while NASA agreed to fund the construction of the ground
data processing and operations systems, to operate the satellite, and to provide for
Landsat data distribution. [II-39] The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, signed
into law in October, codified the management plan and authorized approximately equal
funding from each agency for the operational life of Landsat 7. [II-40]
Landsat 6 was to carry an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) having better radiometric
calibration than previous TM sensors, along with an additional “sharpening”
panchromatic band of fifteen-meter resolution, allowing it to deliver data with resolution
nearly equivalent to SPOT data. NASA had studied this capability in the mid-1970s but
dropped any plans to build higher resolution instruments as a result of national security
restrictions on the sharpness of data from civilian satellites. By the 1990s, other countries
had started selling fine-resolution data, so those national security concerns had become
moot (see below).
Initial NASA and DOD plans called for Landsat 7 to include an ETM Plus, an
improved version of the ETM under development for Landsat 6. Later, DOD began to
consider adding a new multispectral sensor to the satellite, the High Resolution
Multispectral Stereo Imager (HRMSI), capable of collecting five-meter resolution data
particularly useful for mapping. NASA and DOD analysts estimated that developing,
launching, and operating Landsat 7 for five years would equal $880 million (1992 dollars).
NASA considered the additional instrument optional; in the course of discussions, DOD
decided that it should be an operational requirement. However, the HRMSI sensor and
additional ground operations equipment would have cost an additional $400 million. The
high data rates expected for the HRMSI nearly doubled the overall required system data
rate and would have added significant costs to NASA’s yearly operations budget for
Landsat 7.
In September 1993, Landsat 6 was launched but failed to reach orbit, raising additional
concerns about the loss of data continuity. That same month, NASA officials concluded
that the costs of operating Landsat 7 with HRMSI were too large, given other
strains on the space agency’s budget. In December 1993, DOD decided not to fund the
resulting Landsat 7 budget shortfall. As a result of disagreement over the Landsat 7
requirements and budget, DOD decided to drop out of the agreement altogether. [II-41,
II-42, II-43, II-44] That left NASA to fund the development of Landsat 7, carrying only the
planned thirty-meter-resolution ETM Plus. After some discussion, DOD transferred
$90 million to NASA to assist in developing the satellite and sensor because DOD would
79. In 1990, John Knauss, Commerce Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, stated: “Our experience
with the Landsat program . . . [has] led us to the conclusion that commercialization of Landsat, as had
originally been envisioned, is not possible.” J. Knauss, Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, Department
of Commerce, Statement before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, June 12,
1990, Space Policy Institute Documentary History Collection, Washington, DC.
80. Ray A. Williamson, “The Landsat Legacy: Remote Sensing Policy and the Development of
Commercial Remote Sensing,” Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 63 (July 1997): 877–85.