Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 261
trating the value of ERTS-1:
“1. The course of the tributaries of the Amazon River are very different from the
ones shown in the most recent available charts. The difference in position is sometimes
off by 20 km or more and the difference in direction is sometimes off by 90 degrees.
“2. Islands with more than 200 km 2 exist which are not shown on maps.
“3. Some lagoons which are shown on maps as 20 km long are in reality more
than 100 km long.
“4. Small villages and towns are located wrongly on the maps by several tens of
kilometers.
“5. The drainage systems of some areas are entirely wrong and this has caused
among other things, the construction of roads (Manaus - Porto Velho for instance) with
extra expenditures for bridges. In fact, the mentioned road is placed wrongly (by more
than 20 km) in recent maps (1971).
[3] “6. Large unsuspected geological features have been detected, which might provide
new insights into the formation of the basin.
“7. Large abandoned river meanders are shown which were not present in existing
maps.
“8. Even with high percentage (75%) of cloud coverage in some images one can
still make good use of the obtained information for correcting maps.
“9. Unmapped lineaments and fractures have been discovered.
“10. The entire Amazonian region was covered last year with a Side Looking
Airborne Radar (SLAR). The completed controlled photo-mosaics will not be ready for at
least another year. Over 150 people are working on the SLAR project which has cost Brazil
about 20 million dollars. Since the region is rather flat the ERTS-1 MSS channel 6 provides
practically the same information as the SLAR imagery. If one considers the other
MSS channels, then one has substantially more information from ERTS than the SLAR.
This without mentioning the repeatability of ERTS imagery. The cost of ERTS imagery per
square kilometer is about two orders of magnitude less than the SLAR if the satellite operates
for the expected lifetime of one year.”
e. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): “NASA deserves
FAO’s compliments on a successful launching of the satellite which will remotely sense
earth resources for the benefit of mankind for the first time.” (letter of August 3 to NASA
from Mr. Juan Yriart, Assistant Director-General, Development Department, FAO.)
f. Iran: “We have located several lakes which do not appear on the Watershed Map
of Iran. This phenomenon is presumably due to this year’s relatively abundant rainfall. . . .
In the extreme southeast part of Iran (near the Pakistan border) several igneous bodies
have been observed which do not figure on the . . . geological map of Iran. . . . By comparing
images taken from the extreme southeast part of the Caspian Sea with a map of the
region prepared in 1945, it is quite noticeable that the shape of the [4] Bandar Shah
peninsula has changed. This is possibly due to lowering of the Caspian Sea by evaporation
which exceeds the inflow of stream waters. (November 12 letter to NASA from the Iranian
Principal Investigator.)
g. United Nations Secretariat: “It also gives me great pleasure at this time to extend
my congratulations to you on the successful orbiting of this the first dedicated earth surveying
satellite. It is a cause of particular satisfaction to us here at the UN that NASA and
the other United States agencies involved in the programme have, by their imaginative
approach, laid a sound basis for the international cooperation which will be such a fundamental
requirement in order that this new application of space technology may serve,
as we all hope, for the benefit of all mankind.” (July 28 letter to NASA from A.H. Abdel-
Ghani, Chief, Outer Space Affairs Division, UN.)
h. Egypt: (Meguid) called ERTS a “significant technical achievement” in the UN