Conference 7.286::space

    
    I've got probably about 2 cents worth,
    
    I was the account rep for 2 DecSystem20's that processed the
    information from the LANDSAT's. I left there in 1986 and they were
    talking then constantly about shutting down the satelites. The French
    SPOT and the Russian version of these both made substantially better
    pictures and higher resolution. 
    
    I read in the Washington Post tat the LANDSAT's were being shut
    down.
    
    Also a bit of trivia. The DEC 20's did the processing of data but
    the other parts of the project were done by like a dozen 11780's
    all of which were on maintance with 3rd party companys. Also every
    disk in that complex was a RP06 and all the tape drives were TU45's.
    They only had the DEC 20's on contract with DEC and it was an endless
    procession of 3rd party people working on all that old stuff!
    
    Fred Mudgett
    

    

    This news is very disheartening. Some very good imagery came from
    the Landsat series that has been very useful to many countries all
    over the world. On one project I worked on in Indonesia we used
    Landsat data to supplement airborne photographic surveys. The Landsat
    data proved to be very accurate for our use and was also more timely
    than the use of aircraft and film. Indonesia is an archipegilo of
    more than 16,000 islands and flying surveys were not an economical
    method for mapping.
    If they realy do close down Landsat, the data will be truly missed.

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 89 14:49:05 PST
From: jordankatz@cdp.UUCP
Subject: NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89
 
/* Written  2:45 pm  Mar 10, 1989 by jordankatz in cdp:sci.space */
/* ---------- "NSS Hotline Update 3/10/89" ---------- */

    This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week 
ending March 10, 1989. 
 
    LANDSATS 4 and 5, which were scheduled to be shut off by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) due to lack of
funding has been resusitated by Vice President Dan Quayle.  The $9.4
million required to keep the satellites running through FY 1989 will
come from the agencies that use the data.  Quayle, the chairman of the
National Space Council (NSC), declined to say just how much was raised
or by whom. 
 

Date: Sun, 19 Mar 89 09:47:53 PST
From: jordankatz@cdp.UUCP
Subject: NSS Hotline Update for 3/17/89
 
/* Written  9:46 am  Mar 19, 1989 by jordankatz in cdp:sci.space */
/* ---------- "NSS Hotline Update for 3/17/89" ---------- */

    This is the National Space Society's Space Hotline for the week ending 
March 17, 1989. 
 
    Meanwhile back at the Commerce Deptartment, officials there have
been busy rescinding their orders given last week to turn off Landsats
4 and 5.  Operation of the satellites will continue while the White
House reviews the matter further.  California Democratic
Representative George Brown, Jr. initiated a letter signed by 103
other members of Congress addressed to President Bush and Vice
President Quayle asking them to make sure that the $9.4 million is
found to keep the satellites running till the end of the fiscal year. 
 
    JPL scientists have discovered several unknown active fault lines
in the Mojave Desert in CA.  The discovery was made from data obtained
by the Thematic Mapper instrument aboard Landsat 5. 
 

Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro
Subject: Landsat 5 Emergency.
Date: 20 Mar 90 18:25:59 GMT
Reply-To: baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
 
                       Landsat 5 Emergency
 
     The Landsat operations people had declared a Landsat 5 spacecraft
emergency and requested support from a JPL 34 meter tracking station
in Goldstone, California.  The reason for the emergency was an apparent
loss of attitude control system on the spacecraft. 
 
 Ron Baalke                       |    baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov 
 Jet Propulsion Lab  M/S 301-355  |    baalke@jems.jpl.nasa.gov 
 4800 Oak Grove Dr.               |
 Pasadena, CA 91109               |

Sigh.  Not a good couple of weeks for satellites.

Burns

From: baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro
Subject: Landsat-5 Update - 02/07/91
Date: 7 Feb 91 16:25:27 GMT
Sender: news@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. 
 
                            LANDSAT-5 STATUS REPORT
                                February 7, 1991
 
     The Goddard Space Flight Center reported that the Landsat-5
satellite went into a state of emergency yesterday, due to an onboard
command table anomaly.  The emergency was lifted by the project at
midnight (PST) last night. 

      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|      Ron Baalke         | baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |      Jet Propulsion Lab | 
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |___   M/S 301-355        | It's 10PM, do you know
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|  Pasadena, CA 91109 | where your spacecraft is?
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                      | We do!

Article: 2041
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: LANDSAT 4 Spacecraft Emergency - 09/24/92
Sender: news@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Usenet)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1992 00:26:02 GMT
 
                       LANDSAT 4 SPACECRAFT EMERGENCY
                            September 24, 1992
 
     The LANDSAT 4 project declared a spacecraft emergeny on September
22, 1992 at 23:55Z.  The project reports that TDRSS had a negative
signal acquistion of the spacecraft.  A couple of tracking passes
involving Nimbus-7 were cancelled to support the request. TDRSS is
unable to lock onto the downlink from the spacecraft.  The project has
reported that LANDSAT 4 has problems with the sun sensors and the
"UFLTR" subsystem (which contains the star tracker and fine sun
sensors) on the spacecraft has been taken out of the loop.  The
spacecraft pitch is currently 8 to 9 degrees off normal, which has put
it out of view of the TDRSS network.  The project is currently monitoring 
the spacecraft. The spacecraft emergency continues through today, and 
additional support from the Deep Space Network has been requested. 

     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Quiet people aren't the
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | only ones who don't say
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | much.
 

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
                                                           October 27, 1992

Mary A. Hardin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

RELEASE:  92-186


     Geologists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.,
and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, have discovered several previously
unknown earthquake faults in California's northeastern Mojave Desert by
analyzing remote sensing images at optical, infrared and radar wavelengths.

     In a paper presented today at the annual meeting of the Geological Society
of America in Cincinnati, JPL's Dr. John Ford outlined how spaceborne imaging
technology has helped scientists find these newly observed faults, many of
which are located within Fort Irwin, Calif., an active military training area.

     Analysis of the remote sensing images, combined with field observations
and earthquake information, indicate that the area is crossed by many young
faults.  These faults are part of the same system that produced the magnitude
7.5 earthquake that occurred June 28, 1992, at Landers, Calif.

     The faults are visible on computer processed images taken by the Thematic
Mapper instrument on Landsat 5 which obtains images simultaneously in seven
bands at optical and infrared wavelengths.  Corresponding images of the area
from the French SPOT satellite and the NASA airborne synthetic aperture radar
images confirmed the existence of the faults.  Scientists say this study will
lead to better understanding of how the entire system of faults works in
southern California.

     In addition to Ford, the research is being conducted by geologists Dr.
Robert E. Crippen of JPL and Professor Roy K. Dokka of the Department of
Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University.

     The project is funded by NASA's Solid Earth Branch of the Office of Space
Science and Applications, Washington, D.C. Support and safety control of the
field investigations were provided by the U.S. Army at the National Training
Center, Fort Irwin.

Apparently Landsat 6 was launched 2 days ago, but it did not go well.  The rumor
is that it is 50km off in its orbit.  It may or may not be incommunicado. 
Anyone know more?  (The d**n newsgroup is too busy flaming about politics to
have any information...)

Burns

Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Landsat 6
Date: 7 Oct 1993 19:33:34 -0400
Organization: Clark Internet Services, Inc., Ellicott City, MD USA
Lines: 15
Message-ID: <29290e$40q@clarknet.clark.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: clarknet.clark.net
Summary: It's been found
Keywords: landsat

I have some good news and some bad news (please correct me if I'm wrong):

Good news:  Landsat 6 has been located

Bad news:  It's somewhere IN (not over) the South Pacific

Reason:    It's built in thruster failed to fire

Kevin


-- 
Kevin J. Phillips                     E-Mail: kphillip@clark.net
4969-101 Columbia Road                 Phone: (410) 730-6502
Columbia, MD 20706

From: garry@mdavcr.mda.ca (Garry Holmen)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Landsat 6
Keywords: landsat
Message-ID: <4626@sparky.mdavcr.mda.ca>
Date: 8 Oct 93 16:41:44 GMT
References: <29290e$40q@clarknet.clark.net>
Organization: MacDonald Dettwiler, 13800 Commerce Parkway, Richmond, BC, Canada 
V6V 2J3
Lines: 23
As of last night (from my sources) Landsat 6 has not been communicated with. Some
speculation by the press is that it was dumped into the South Pacific out of ground
tracking range.... but again this is pure speculation. No one knows exactly where
it is.

The reason for the failure in the Titan IV has been reported as a problem with the
3rd stage kick motor. This indicates that LS6 is either in a much lower orbit or
it is LEO shrapnel.

We're still optimistic here... (we have to be... we have lots of $$$ on this one.)

Garry
======================================================
From: seftor@toad.mrj.com (Larry Seftor)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Landsat 6 Launch
Date: 8 Oct 1993 13:06:38 -0400
Organization: MRJ, Inc./Oakton, Virginia, USA
Lines: 19
Message-ID: <2946mu$ouf@toad.mrj.com>
References: <4617@map.mdavcr.mda.ca>
Reply-To: seftor@mrj.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: toad.mrj.com

The most recent word I've seen (at least throught news reports) is that
no one knows what happened to the satellite after separation from the 
rocket.  At least one theory had the satellite driving itself into the 
ocean, rather than up into orbit.  Early indications that it went into
the wrong orbit were based on the misidentification of another object.

Martin Marietta is supposed to be assembling a team as I write to figure
out what happened.

All in all, it looks quite bad.

Larry Seftor
MRJ, Inc.
-- 
Larry Seftor
MRJ, Inc.
10455 White Granite Drive
Oakton, VA 22124
(703) 385-0864

Article: 3474
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space
Subject: Landsat missing in action
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 93 21:29:40 PDT
 
	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- An official investigation has been
launched into the disappearance of the $228 million Landsat 6
spacecraft which has been silent since it was launched Oct. 5 from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 

	Thomas E. McGunigal, manager of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's geostationary operational environmental
satellite program, was named Friday to head a panel of experts to look
into the failure of Landsat 6, NOAA announced.  The remainder of the
panel was expected to be named next week. 

	The satellite, charged with studying the global environment
for five years, was designed and built by Martin Marietta Astro Space
which already has convened a board to investigate why the spacecraft
disappeared after an apparently successful launch aboard a Titan II
space launch vehicle. 

	Landsat 6 was the fourth project to fail in two months.  The
first on Aug. 2 was a Titan rocket that exploded.  Nineteen days later,
NASA's Mars Observer was silenced, and a NOAA-13 weather satellite
experienced an electrical outage that rendered it inoperable. 

	The three satellites were produced by the same Martin Marietta
subsidiary -- New Jersey-based Astro Space which the defense company
acquired in April through the purchase of GE Aerospace.  The Titan 4
rocket that exploded, taking a $700 million Air Force satellite with
it, was built by Martin Marietta. 

Article: 1974
From: clarinews@clarinet.com (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.usa,clari.tw.aerospace,clari.tw.environment
Subject: Government gives up on lost satellite
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 93 6:54:54 PDT
 
	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Federal officials have concluded the
Earth-observing Landsat 6 satellite never reached orbit after its
Oct. 5 launch. 

	The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said
Monday it had ``exhausted all efforts to communicate with and locate
the satellite.'' 

	The satellite, which was to have monitored natural resources
such as timber and coastal zones, was launched from a Titan II rocket.
It was built by Martine Marietta Corp., and developed by the Earth
Observation Satellite Co. (EOSAT). 

	A NOAA panel will review the data to determine what probably
caused the satellite loss. 

	This is the third U.S. satellite lost in recent months. The $1
billion Mars Observer program lost contact with its spacecraft as it
was to enter orbit around Mars in late August.  Also in August,
controllers lost communication with a new weather satellite. 

Date:    Sat, 23 Oct 1993 19:59:00 -0500
From:    Mike Powell <mlp@MOES.COPLEX.COM>
Subject: LandSat 6

This message was from JOE TAYLOR to INFO,
and was forwarded to you by MIKE POWELL.
                    -------------------------
>Date/time   : 16-Oct 03:21
>Bid         : NASA1015.LAN
>Title       : Landsat-6 Loss
>From: N5RLV@K5DI.NM.USA.NA
>Posted: Thu, Oct 14, 1993  11:42 AM EDT              Msg: CGJD-6037-8336
>From:   JELLICKSON
>To:     NESDIS
>CC:     JELLICKSON, MMIGNOGNO
>Subj:   Loss of Landsat 6

It is now more than a week after the Landsat 6 launch and subsequent loss.
The purpose of this message is to inform our friends within NESDIS on the
few facts that we currently know about this mission failure.

The Titan 2 launch vehicle appears to have performed as planned.  The
launch was on schedule and the boost vehicle closely followed the planned
trajectory.  Telemetry from the Titan 2 second stage indicates that the
spacecraft separated successfully and on schedule.  We have had no further
contact with the spacecraft and do not have any direct evidence as to what
happened next.

As planned, the spacecraft telemetry was not transmitted during this
period because of possible radio frequency interference with the Titan 2
telemetry transmissions.

The Air Force Space Surveillance Center in Colorado (formally called
"NORAD") had scheduled surveillance during the launch and early orbit
period for determining the initial Landsat 6 orbit.  They could not find
it.  Early reports in the press indicated that Landsat 6 was in the wrong
orbit; this misunderstanding was resolved about 2:00am Wednesday morning.
When the Air Force tracking systems could not locate Landsat 6 in its
nominal trajectory, they found an object that was closely following ERS-1.

We later reported back to the Air Force that Landsat 6 could not
have achieved that particular orbit and they agreed.  I am personally
concerned that they may have appeared "confused" in the press reports.
I have nothing but respect for the people I talked to that night. 
They were very helpful to us throughout that difficult period and, in
my view, deserve only praise.  They were literally looking for a
needle in a haystack, and we now believe the needle was never there...

Tom McGunigal is chairing NOAA's Failure Review Board.  He is pulling
together a team of experts to look through the evidence for the most
probable cause and, to the extent possible, recommend actions that will
minimize or preclude the possibility of similar failures in the future.
We will be fully supporting that effort.  Martin Marietta has convened a
similar board.

Anticipating your questions on the future of the Landsat Program, it is
much too early to speculate on that.  Stay tuned.

Jim Ellickson
Landsat Commercialization Division

de N5RLV@K5DI.NM.USA.NA

via the National Ham Radio Packet Network- where radios replace telephone
wires....

--------------- A dream unthreatened by the morning light... ----------------
Michael Powell                                 Internet: mlp@moes.coplex.com
"Moe's Tavern GTBBS" - GTNet 010/022             UseNet: moes.coplex.com!mlp
Goshen, KY - 502/228-7538 - v.32bis              "D'Oh!!!" - Homer Simpson
----- ...could blow this soul right through the roof of the night - PF ------

Article: 78023
Newsgroups: sci.space
From: Donna=K.=Scholz%DSB%EDC@EDCserver1.cr.usgs.gov
Subject: Info on Availability of Landsat Data
Sender: news+@cs.cmu.edu
Organization: [via International Space University]
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 15:01:25 GMT
 
Yes, Landsat data is available from several sources around the world. 
The Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the U.S. is at the EROS Data
Center (run by the U.S. Geological Survey) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 
 
Landsat MSS data (resolution of 80 meters) is available for areas from
all over the world since the 1972 launch.  These data are in digital
format ($200 a scene), or 9" black and white neg and pos photos
($10-$18 per band). Landsat TM data (resolution of 30 meters) will
begin returning to government ownership (after the Reagan era of
commericalization of Landsat) in July 1994.  At that time TM digital
data will drop from the commerical firm's price to the USGS price of
$500 or less for all data at least 10 years old. 
 
There is also a pair of CD-ROMs nearing completion by the USGS that
will be sold for $32 each that contain all 4-bands of MSS data for
approximately 7 domestic US locations and 7 international locations
chosen to show global change over the past 20 years at those sites. 
Expect to see these early in 1994. 
 
For more information on availability of satellite imagery of Earth,
call Customer Services at 605-594-6151,,, or over the Internet using
an ascii terminal, telnet to the GLIS online inventory system at
GLIS.CR.USGS.GOV (152.61.192.54); or if you are an X-windows user,
telnet to the XGLIS version (xglis.cr.usgs.gov).  You can look at
inventories of the USGS, and also use the remote connect menu to jump
to other online inventories in Canada and Europe.  For more info on
GLIS or assistance accessing this free service, call 1-800-252-GLIS. 

				Donna K. Scholz
				Chief, Data Management
				Earth Resources Observation System (EROS)
				U.S. Geological Survey
                                scholz@edcserver1.cr.usgs.gov
 

From:	US4RMC::"yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov" "Peter Yee" 27-MAY-1994 08:52:07.06
To:	usenet-space-news@arc.nasa.gov
CC:	
Subj:	NASA takes over Landsat 7 development contract [Release 94-78]  

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.        May 20, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Randee Exler
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-0697)

RELEASE No.: 94-78

NASA TAKES OVER LANDSAT 7 DEVELOPMENT CONTRACT

	NASA officials announced today that the agency had assumed the
satellite-development contract for Landsat 7 from the Department of
Defense (DoD).  The contract with Martin Marietta Astro Space, Valley
Forge, Pa., will now be managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC), Greenbelt, Md. 

	Landsat 7 will provide essential land remote-sensing data
critical to understanding environmental change and will support a
broad range of other important Earth science and Earth-resource
applications.  The Landsat program has provided more than 20 years of
calibrated data to a broad user community of resource managers,
global-change researchers, state and local governments, commercial
users and the military.  Landsat data have been used, for example, to
refine estimates of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. 

	NASA assumes satellite development following the
Administration's reevaluation of the program, led by the Office of
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  Under the existing joint
program office, DOD had primary responsibility for satellite
development and launch, and NASA had primary responsibility for the
ground system and data distribution. 

	The new program was implemented May 5 under a Presidential
Decision Directive signed by President Clinton. NASA will have
responsibility for development and launch of the satellite.  The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA will
jointly develop the ground system, which NOAA will operate.  The Earth
Resource Observation Satellites (EROS) Data Center, Sioux Falls, S.D.,
of the Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will
continue to be responsible for maintaining the government's archive of
Landsat and other related remotely sensed data. 

	The existing program was reevaluated after changing national
security concerns led to DOD's determination that Landsat 7 would not
meet its needs.  DOD's withdrawal from the program, together with the
failure of NOAA's Landsat 6 to reach orbit in October 1993 and the
advanced age of Landsats 4 and 5, led the Administration to reassess
the program. 

	The outcome of the OSTP's assessment is a new strategy
designed to continue the Landsat program and extend the 20-year
Landsat data set.  The estimated cost of the restructured program
(development and operations), including $230 million already spent, 
is $754.7 million, about $125 million less than the joint NASA-DOD
program.  Launch of Landsat 7 is planned for December 1998. 

	Landsat 7 is expected to be the functional equivalent of
NOAA's Landsat 6, with enhancements to the spacecraft. Landsat 6
carried an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), which would have provided
images of the Earth's surface with resolution as good as approximately
15 meters (50 feet) in one band plus 30 metters (100 feet) resolution
in six bands covering the visible, near and short-wave infrared
regions. Landsat 7 will carry an ETM-Plus, under development by Hughes
Santa Barbara Research Center, Calif., which will provide modest
improvements over Landsat 6, primarily in instrument calibration and
accuracy. 

	Landsat 6 was intended to replace the existing Landsats 4 and
5.  Launched in 1982 and 1984 respectively, Landsats 4 and 5 are
operating well beyond their three-year design lives, and represent the
only source of global, calibrated high spatial resolution measurements
of the Earth's surface that can be compared to previous data records. 

	Landsat 7 is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE),
dedicated to studying how our global environment is changing.  Using
the unique perspective available from space, NASA is observing,
monitoring and assessing large-scale environmental processes, with an
emphasis on climate change. MTPE satellite data, complemented by
aircraft and ground data, are enabling us to better understand
environmental changes, to determine how human activities have
contributed to these changes  and to understand the consequences of
such changes.  MTPE data, which NASA is distributing to researchers
worldwide, are essential to humans making informed decisions about
protecting their environment. 

	The Landsat 7 spacecraft development is managed by GSFC for
NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Washington, D.C. 

Article: 2186
From: Fred Gunther <fgunther@ulabsgi.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Newsgroups: sci.space.tech
Subject: Landsat news (from GSFC.News)
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 10:58:20 -0400 (EDT)
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access
 
LANDSAT DECISION
 
On May 10, the Vice President announced the President's decision to
continue the Landsat remote sensing satellite program and to
restructure Federal agency responsibilities for acquiring and
operating the next satellite, Landsat 7. Acquisition responsibilities
will transfer from DOD to NASA. The Department of Commerce will
operate the satellite and its ground system in cooperation with the
Department of the Interior, which will maintain the national archive
of Landsat data.  This decision supports the continuity of the only
source of global, calibrated, high-spatial-resolution measurements of
the Earth's surface that can be compared to the current 20-year
Landsat data set. 
 
LANDSAT PLANS
 
The U.S. Government will: (a) Provide unenhanced data which are
sufficiently consistent in terms of acquisition geometry, coverage
characteriscs, and spectral characteristics with previous Landsat data
to allow quantitative comparisons for change detection and
characterization; (b) Make government- owned Landsat data available to
meet the needs of all users at no more than the cost of fulfilling
user requests consistent with data policy goals of P. L. 102- 555;
and, (c) Promote and not preclude private sector commercial
opportunities in Landsat-type remote sensing. 
 
The Landsat strategy is composed of the following elements: (1)
Ensuring that Landsat satellites 4 and 5 continue to provide data as
long as they are technically capable of doing so. (2) Acquiring a
Landsat 7 satellite that maintains the continuity of Landsat-type
data, minimizes development risk, minimizes cost, and achieves the
most favorable launch schedule to mitigate the loss of Landsat 6. (3)
Maintaining an archive within the United States for existing and
future Landsat-type data. (4) Ensuring that unenhanced data from
Landsat 7 are available to all users at no more than the cost of
fulfilling user requests. (5) Providing data for use in global change
research in a manner consistent with the Global Change Research Policy
Statements for Data Management. (6) Considering alternatives for
maintaining the continuity of data beyond Landsat 7. (7) Fostering the
development of advanced remote sensing technologies, with the goal of
reducing the cost and increasing the performance of future Landsat-type 
satellites to meet U.S. Government needs, and potentially, enabling 
substantially greater opportunities for commercialization. 
 
Affected agencies will identify funds necessary to implement the
National Strategy for Landsat Remote Sensing within the overall
resource and policy guidance provided by the President.  In order to
effectuate the strategy enumerated herein, the Secretary of Commerce
and the Secretary of the Interior are hereby designated as members of
the Landsat Program Management in accordance with section 101(b) of
the Landsat Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, 15 U.S.C. 5602(6) and
5611(b).  Specific agency responsibilities are provided below. 
 
DOC/NOAA will: (1) In participation with other appropriate government
agencies arrange for the continued operation of Landsat satellites 4
and 5 and the routine operation of future Landsat satellites after
their placement in orbit. (2) Seek better access to da collted at
forei ground stations for U.S. Government and private sector users of
Landsat data. (3) In cooperation with NASA, manage the development of
and provide a share of the funding for the Landsat 7 ground system.
(4) Operate the Landsat 7 spacecraft and ground system in cooperation
with the DOI. (5) Seek to offset operations costs through use of
access fees from foreign ground stations and/or the cost of fulfilling
user requests. (6) Aggregate future Federal requirements for civil
operational land remote sensing data. 
 
NASA will: (1) Ensure data continuity by the development and launch of
a Landsat 7 satellite system which is at a minimum functionally
equivalent to the Landsat 6 satellite in accordance with section 102,
P. L. 102-555. (2) In coordination with DOC and DOI, develop a Landsat
7 ground system compatible withe Landsat 7 spacecraft. (3) In
coordination with DOC, DOI, and DOD, revise the current Management
plan to reflect the changes implemented through this directive,
including programmatic, technical, schedule, and budget information.
(4) Implement the joint NASA/DOD transition plan to transfer the DOD
Landsat 7 responsibilities to NASA. (5) In coordination with other
appropriate agencies of the U. S. Government develop a strategy for
maintaining continuity of Landsat-type data beyond Landsat 7. (6)
Conduct a coordinated technology demonstration program with other
appropriate agencies to improve the performance and reduce the cost
for future unclassified Earth remote sensing systems. 
 
DOD will implement the joint NASA/DOD transition plan to transfer the
DOD Landsat 7 responsibilities to NASA.  DOI will continue to maintain
a national archive of existing and future Landsat-type remote sensing
data within the United States and make such data available to U. S.
Government and other users. All the agencies affected by these
strategy guidelines were directed to report within 30 days to the
National Science and Technology Council on their implementation. The
agencies will address management and funding responsibilities,
government and contractor operations, data management, archiving, and
dissemination, necessary changes to P. L. 102-555 and commercial
considerations associated with the Landsat program.