Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

B. The Manifold U.S. Interests in Civil Remote Sensing
EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 287
1. The U.S. interests that can be served by civil remote sensing from space are of many
different kinds. We will group them under the headings of technical, public, economic,
and international interests.
2. Technical Interests
a. Basic scientific knowledge and understanding. Remote sensing from space provides
a means to learn about the earth on a global or regional basis, update such
information, and provide data for basic research on various aspects and features
of the earth. Current administration policy properly stresses the national importance
of basic research. Remote sensing from space is a unique tool for a wide
range of scientific research interests.
[5] b. Global capacities. Remote sensing from space has unique capabilities to provide
information needed to deal on a global basis with national and international
problems, such as food production, energy and mineral resources, water availability,
and others, especially in relation to developing countries.
c. Support for U.S. decisionmaking. Remote sensing from space can provide information
and data useful for U.S. decisions, such as current information on crop
production in major agricultural countries.
d. Technology development. Continuing R&D in remote sensing systems can provide
a vehicle for achieving technological advances of significance in other fields
as well as in remote sensing.
3. Public Interests
a. Specific Federal needs and functions. Earth information derived by remote sensing
from space can make significant contributions to the needs and functions of
Federal agencies and programs in many different areas, such as weather, crops,
climate, geological resources, topographic mapping, land use, and environmental
monitoring. Significant contributions by remote sensing information systems
have been demonstrated or are clearly foreseen in these and other fields.
b. Public interest needs and benefits. The broader public interests of the United
States, as distinguished from specific Federal programmatic interests, are served
by making available earth information from space to States, localities, universities,
and the public at large, in usable form at a reasonable cost. State, regional, and
local authorities and universities and other public interest groups can use such
information in a variety of public interest functions, such as land use planning,
environmental monitoring, demographic studies, etc.
4. Economic Interests
a. Economic interests of U.S. private sector. The availability of earth information
derived by remote sensing from space can be used to the overall economic advantage
of the United States by private enterprise in a variety of fields, oil and mineral
exploration being two outstanding examples.
b. U.S. competitive position in space technology. With the emergence in Europe
and Japan of strong competitive capabilities and interests in space technology,
including remote sensing systems, it is clearly in the U.S. economic (as well as
political) interest to maintain a leadership position in civil remote sensing.
Competitive areas include the manufacturing and servicing of satellites, sensors,
and ground equipment; the dissemination of data; and the provision of technical
services and assistance in the analysis, enhancement, [6] and interpretation of
remote sensing data. In each of these fields, U.S. industry and private companies
can undoubtedly compete successfully if the U.S. Government maintains a con-