Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
satellite program must be clearly foreseen.
(c) How can we take best advantage of the U.S. lead in most of the professional enduser
skills (oil exploration, plant disease studies, airborne mapping, etc.) plus the lead in
digital image processing? These assets may offer sufficient “exclusivity” to adequately protect
national economic self interest if we move ahead to develop and apply these skills. To
facilitate this process, we should make imagery generally available to encourage further
development of both institutions and technology.
(d) Should primary data tapes from ERS systems be made fully available to anyone at
very low cost by government, or should the operating entity be empowered to restrict dissemination,
and offer exclusive access to economically motivated customers? Which
approach would develop most rapidly the technology, institutions, and capital and market
structures to deliver useful services? The answer hinges on [13] whether the work to date
would justify private investment in a satellite and ground facility system, in which case proprietary
rights in primary data might encourage investment. In our judgment, the work to
date would not justify private investment; particularly since the character of most applications
is such that the benefits are not capturable [sic] by individuals. When the product
of an enterprise is an indivisible public good, then it is certain that governments will be
the primary customers. Examples are: land-use planning, flood control, crop estimation,
iceberg tracking, pollution monitoring, etc.
(e) What policy regarding acquisition and dissemination of imagery over other countries
has the best chance of leading to a stable basis for global access by the U.S., maximum
cooperation in the exchange of ground data, and best opportunities for U.S. firms
to market services abroad? Obvious alternatives include:
(1) Unilateral assertion of satellite data acquisition rights by the U.S., coupled with
either an assertion of the right not to disseminate, or a commitment to do so.
(2) Proposal for an international network (like Intelsat), with the first U.S. operational
bird as the first prototype. This would doubtless produce serious
delays. This is also the most aggressive form of internationalization.
[14] (3) Effort to negotiate international acceptance of “Open Skies“ without asserting
the unilateral right, perhaps with the commitment to share primary
“(Master)” data fully and an offer of help to LDC’s in image processing and
interpretation as an incentive.
(4) Cancel the NASA program altogether and rely upon classified sources for
U.S. national requirements.
(f) What is required to maintain the credibility of a unilateral U.S. program in which
we offer to disseminate primary data internationally? If, occasionally, data are withheld,
what will be the political consequences? Is there any merit to an extension of the “Master
Tape” proposal to include the production and dissemination of photographs from the
tape by a U.N. agency, in parallel with U.S. government distribution domestically? How
can the U.S. enhance the sense of participation and equity of other countries in the new
technology, as a foundation for viable international machinery in the future?
In an understandable desire to sustain or accelerate the public investment in ERS, its
supporters are allowing policy authorities to underestimate the technical, institution and
economic obstacles to be overcome before a widespread, cost-effective usage of remote
sensing in civil applications can be sustained. The temptation to call the follow-on
[15] program to ERTS-1 “operational” reflects this tendency. Political sensitivity of other
nations to unilateral remote sensing both grows on and enhances this optimism. In fact,
a great deal more research and, more important, more applications experience in a realistic
economic environment is needed before an economically viable “operational” ERTS
program can emerge. Requirements for this further experience include:
(a) Continued access to remote sensing and ground truth data on as close to a glob-