Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
operational system could be met is 1989, when the R&D necessary for the new solid state,
multilinear array sensors should have been completed, and the sensors will have been fabricated,
tested, and incorporated into either an existing multi-mission modular spacecraft
(MMS) or a new spacecraft. The Landsat D system so modified is designated the “Fully
Operational System.”
A decision on when to implement the Fully Operational System requires careful
examination of the Federal government’s priorities, needed financial assistance, private
sector willingness to invest in and take over the system, user demands during the interim
system and the potential risk of foreign satellite systems obtaining a portion of the domestic
and foreign land remote sensing market.
Management Arrangements for the Interim Operational System
Certain changes in management responsibility will take place as the Interim
Operational System is implemented. Although the exact dates for transferring managerial
responsibility to NOAA are subject to changes in NASA’s schedule for Landsat D, NOAA
plans to assume the following responsibilities from NASA and Interior on the following
schedule:
[7] • NOAA will assume responsibility from NASA in FY 1983 for the command and control
of the system and will begin providing MSS data on an operational basis after the successful
launch and check-out of Landsat D and the MSS ground system and after NASA
has demonstrated that the system is operational. NOAA will assume responsibility for TM
data when that portion of the system reaches an initial operational level of performance;
• NOAA will assume responsibility from NASA and the EROS Data Center in FY
1983–84 for the generation and dissemination of data and standard data products.
Assuming it is cost-effective, a new facility would be co-located with the Landsat D preprocessing
facility at Goddard and would be the sole sales outlet in the United States
of data and standard data products from the Interim Operational System; and
• NOAA will take title to the Landsat archival material at Goddard and the EROS Data
Center in FY 1984 and will be responsible for archival and dissemination functions for
the Interim Operational System.
During the interim operational phase based on the Landsat D series of satellites,
NOAA will manage the system in coordination with an interagency Assistant Secretary
level Program Board. In addition, the Secretary of Commerce will establish a Land
Remote Sensing Satellite Advisory Committee with representatives of state and local governments,
other domestic non-Federal users, and interested domestic private sector
groups. Within NOAA, a new major line component, the National Earth Satellite Service,
has been proposed to have managerial responsibility for the civil operational land remote
sensing satellite program.
User Requirements for the Fully Operational System
User requirements should determine the design of the fully operational land remote
sensing satellite system. A survey of governmental and private users indicates a wide range
of possible requirements, depending on the type of application being considered, which
could justify differing types of satellite systems.
To assist NOAA or an eventual private owner to develop a responsive operational system,
a preliminary survey of possible user requirements was made. This survey indicated,
[8] for example, that agencies that are interested primarily in renewable resource applications
such as agricultural crop assessment want frequent observations, delivery of data
within 48 hours in certain circumstances, spectral bands that discriminate between various