Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

324
OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
and the citizen dependent on Federal tornado and hurricane warnings.
In addition, while some weather information is commercially marketed now, the sale
of our satellite system would not enhance that market one iota. In reviewing the initial
draft of Commerce’s RFP, the DOD insisted that a provision be included allowing the free
and open distribution of weather data to our allies around the world, as we have traditionally
done. The DOD insisted on this provision because of their fear that should the
United States begin selling weather data to foreign governments instead of offering it free,
those foreign governments would limit the data they provide to the United States, data
which is crucial to U.S. military operations. This leads inescapably to the conclusion that
the transfer of these satellites is neither militarily prudent nor commercially viable. For if
weather data from U.S. satellites is made available internationally, it can be transmitted on
public airwaves to the United States, thus destroying not only the international market,
but the domestic market as well. The demands of our military and the requirements of
commercialization are irreconcilable.
But perhaps the most compelling reason to disassociate the weather satellites from the
RFP process now is that the extended consideration we are giving to their sale only delays
the decision to commercialize land remote sensing satellites. The continued coupling of
the land and weather satellites only guarantees that the land satellite issue will not be
resolved by Congress until as late as mid-1985 at which point we may have forfeited to our
competitors overseas what promises to be a multibillion domestic market.
Thanks to the Bateman amendment to the NASA bill, the administration will have to
come to Congress sooner or later to seek approval for that RFP. And when they do, I feel
sure the weather satellite portion of it will not survive the scrutiny of this Congress. My
concern is that the private sector be adequately forewarned. It is disingenuous and unfair
to ask American companies to spend their valuable time and resources responding to a
proposal that has no hope of getting by Congress. It is time that we send a clear message
to the administration and to the boardrooms of those companies that would bid our
weather satellites. They are not for sale. That is the sole purpose of this resolution. It
deserves to pass and I urge its prompt approval.
Mr. SCHEUER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. SCHEUER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. SCHEUER. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman from Texas (Mr. ANDREWS) indicated,
this proposal to sell the weather satellites is truly a nonstarter. It is truly a proposal
whose time will never come. And it is a dangerous proposal, not just a silly proposal. It is
a dangerous proposal because it is diverting our attention from the main game, from the
main competitive global arena in which U.S. enterprise really can play a dynamic successful
role and that is in the area of Landsat, in the area of Landsat that is appropriate for
commercialization. And if we dilly and dally with this absolutely preposterous idea of commercializing
weathersat which 13 out of 14 Government-industry respondents have told us
is intrinsically a Government function and should never be commercialized, if we dilly and
dally, fiddling about with this, we are going to continue to let our position in Landsat
erode to the point where the French and the Japanese are going to beat us to the punch
and preempt our leadership in space in the very arena where private capital could pay a
dynamic and successful role.
Mr. Speaker, l would like to expand upon a point raised by the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. FUQUA)—that pursuing the sale of weather satellites needlessly complicates
the urgent need to maintain U.S. leadership in land remote sensing.
The U.S. Government has operated civilian land-remote-sensing satellites, or Landsat,
since 1972.
Since that time, Landsat has provided a wealth of information on: Natural resources,
mineral deposits, and agricultural productivity.
At low cost to: Federal agencies, to private industry, and over 40 nations around the