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8/19/2008 5:25:50 PM

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In April 2003, the U.S. government announced the U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Space Policy (CRSSP). In a great example of bureaucratic symmetry, policy was quickly backed up by real budget dollars when the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded DigitalGlobe and ORBIMAGE contracts collectively valued at $1 billion in September 2003 and September 2004, respectively, to help fund next-generation satellites.

This strong vote of confidence for the geospatial industry promoted commercial imagery as an efficient, cost-effective alternative to government-controlled remote sensing. For the first time, the United States adopted a standard practice used in several other countries- government-supported, commercially operated Earth-observing systems. At the same time, the U.S. government created a new de facto standard (.5 meter and better imagery) for what it considered acceptable for worldwide commercial distribution.

“Enhancing the U.S. remote sensing industry” remains one of CRSSP’s main goals in response to the many other countries developing their own Earth-observing systems. U.S. policy/investment has been great for the industry worldwide, driving the development of strong value-added capabilities, and the desire for high-resolution “national/commercial” systems among a host of other countries. This recent activity has been driven primarily by the U.S. defense industry, but the implications go deep into defense, civilian, scientific and commercial programs around the world. There is much the U.S. industry can gain from these trends and activities in the global arena.

A Global Context
Remote sensing is global in nature—sensors know no political boundaries, and often solve problems that are global in scope, scale and effect. What is known commonly as the “U.S. industry” is more global than national. U.S. commercial data providers rely on foreign investments, technology, networks, partners and, most importantly, clients. Moreover, value-added work frequently is performed offshore, and software and equipment vendors and manufacturers often are owned by or supplied by foreign companies. The U.S. industry is defined by these global characteristics. To keep CRSSP and its large government investment from being a “short-term fix,” the U.S. industry needs to be more integrated into, and strengthened by, this global context. Although the United States helps define the industry globally through its contributions, it also helps define what’s missing, or needed, for further progress.
Resolution typically is the predominant characteristic of an imaging system. However, it’s important to consider other components that contribute to a system’s value and help match products and services to an application. These include the technical—coverage area, reliability, programming flexibility, revisit frequency, spectral bands, geographic reach—and the programmatic—dependability, price, data distribution policy, business model, commercial experience, customer service, product range, etc.

In many ways, the U.S. policy and programs have defined the industry’s resolution “bookends” by providing civilian-access imagery at the two extremes—high-resolution imagery of small areas at a relatively high cost from U.S. commercial sources, and medium-resolution imagery of large areas at almost no cost from the U.S. Landsat system. Non-U.S. providers fill the data gap between these two resolution extremes with numerous products and services that are suited to a variety of applications.

While U.S. companies continue to move exclusively toward even higher resolutions and specific imaging system characteristics, the variety of products and services available from the global industry continues to expand, both from existing and future systems. For example, the French SPOT constellation and the Indian IRS series of satellites provide large area coverage at resolutions ranging from 2.5 meters to more than 20 meters. SPOT also provides a unique stereo-imaging system used to create global elevation models, as well as a 1-kilometer imager, “Vegetation,” which covers the entire globe daily. Taiwan’s new FormoSat 2 (formerly RocSat) imaging system provides daily revisit in select areas of the globe at 2-meter resolution. In addition, Korea’s KompSat-2 satellite will provide an additional source of global 1-meter imagery with other unique characteristics.

A broad variety of image data types helps the industry develop new applications, products and services, and business opportunities. The scale of common applications today ranges from the entire world to a city block. For example, Earth Satellite Corp. provides NaturalVue 2000, a Landsat-based 15-meter mosaic of the world that has become an image standard available anywhere in the world. SPOT imagery is used regularly to map entire countries such as Iraq, North and South Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, Mexico and the United States at 2.5-, 5- and/or 10-meter resolutions.

Such large-area coverage is complemented by high-resolution coverage of cities and smaller developed areas. Using Landsat to map infrastructure or urban details isn’t effective or realistic, nor is creating a large countrywide mosaic with high-resolution images. In reality, users today can “dial in” the appropriate resolution for their applications. A multiresolution approach, drawing on a variety of imagery, is far more dynamic, updatable, cost-effective and functional than an approach dictated by policy, economic or other concerns.

Hence, to have a sustainable U.S. industry requires more access to additional sources of imagery, and a lively two-way commerce—both selling into and buying from global markets to support and supplement domestic sources. Any tendencies toward commercial or political isolation will stifle U.S. industry, particularly the users, by limiting access to appropriate and effective source material. 

The Industry’s Global Landscape
As detailed in “The Global Explosion of Land-Imaging Satellites,” Earth Imaging Journal, January/February 2005 (www.eijournal.com/globalexplosion.asp), there are currently 25 land-observing satellites in orbit—double the number only seven short years ago. And, according to author Bill Stoney, five more are expected to launch by 2007. This smorgasbord of satellite imagery stirs the imagination of visionaries, users, value-added companies and businessmen—a stark contrast to the situation less than 25 years ago when, outside of Landsat imagery, Earth observation was confined to the superpowers using classified systems to spy on one another.

  


Several things are clear from Stoney’s charts and analysis: 
• Besides the number of satellites, there has been a dramatic change in the number of countries paying for them.
• Countries want their own specific systems to apply to their own problems, missions and goals—both internal and external. 
• Significant funding is available globally to purchase and operate Earth-observation systems, particularly as the cost of space and ground segments continues to decrease.
• Opportunities and offerings from around the world are far too great for the U.S. industry to not be involved in the global arena as a consumer, partner and vendor.
• The variety of resolutions, product types and services available from around the world will continue to broaden, rather than narrow toward higher resolution. This includes resolutions, monitoring capabilities, single-source constellations, radar systems, etc.
• Many satellites are designed to be more scientific than “operational,” i.e. limited in their capacity or characteristics, or otherwise not openly available. Yet many others should be considered as potentially “available” to add value to operational applications.
• The largest impediment to making many of these multiple sources available will be providing “access” through the types of user/customer-oriented systems and services required to bring these products to users.
This look across the globe paints a picture of the wealth of data available to U.S. industry now and in the future, and why the U.S. needs to be more engaged with these systems and the global industry.

  
 
Engaging Globally
Users with critical applications that rely on satellite imagery readily turn to the global variety of sources for disaster relief, large-area mapping, agriculture and environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, crop forecasting, visualization and simulation, base mapping, etc. It makes sense that value, efficiency and cost-effectiveness are more important than the source. The United States can benefit from the investment other countries’ tax payers have made in Earth-observation systems, as the rest of the world has benefited from Landsat and will from the future U.S. government/commercial systems. Partnerships are an effective way for the United States to engage globally, whether they entail simple product distribution agreements or programs to cooperatively build and operate satellites for mutual benefit.


Some form of partnership based on international cooperation characterizes many of the aforementioned systems. One of the most common examples of international cooperation involves today’s weather forecasting and monitoring services, which result from multinational space and ground segment partnerships. Managed in the United States by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, such partnerships involve France, Japan and a host of other countries.


Similarly, the SPOT system relies on partnerships to increase the products and services it provides its customers, and to facilitate access to markets around the world. Likewise, SPOT provides access to foreign markets for U.S. providers through a variety of formal and informal partnerships. SPOT also has an exclusive commercial partnership with Taiwan’s national space organization to distribute FormoSat-2 imagery internationally, and is in discussions with several other global operators.


Space Imaging has a longstanding partnership with the government of India to sell imagery from the IRS series and other satellites operated by that country. China and Brazil have an interesting partnership that has resulted in the launch of two CBERS satellites, and there are plans to launch three more to support internal users and applications. 


The Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) is the largest example of Earth-observation cooperation. Numerous countries are involved in this massive effort to avoid duplication and provide improved access to the broadest range of scientific and operational data types and information for the greatest number of users. 

  
   


One of the unfortunate “missed opportunities” for partnership involves the U.S. Landsat system, the future of which is now in jeopardy. For several decades, Landsat was a U.S. government gift to the world, and as such, inspired a body of knowledge about remote sensing and the environment that is almost beyond imagination. An entire industry came of age because of the Landsat program, which provided an endless supply of (almost) free imagery supported exclusively by a single government. International cooperation developed around receiving stations and user groups. However, in trying to develop future Landsat continuity, international cooperation and partnerships were considered a low-priority option, though many of Landsat’s strongest users and supporters are outside the United States. Now numerous alternative sources for similar data are available from around the world, and it is increasingly difficult to justify a costly U.S.-only Landsat continuity program.

Where Do We Go from Here?
The United States has a strong positive industrial policy and has made a major initial investment. Now the industry will be sustainable only to the extent that it evolves and participates in the global industry. Direct control and operation of strategic data sources is critical for the United States. However, the variety of imagery available from around the world will help develop the best processing and exploitation capabilities possible. Programs and policies that directly or indirectly limit access to a range of effective data sources only limit the industry’s development.


There is a limit to the effectiveness of increasing resolution from space-basesd systems. Now more business and technical attention needs to be given to image access systems. It’s one thing to operate an Earth-observation satellite. It’s a completely different task to coordinate space and ground segments, production facilities, and customer service operations to reliably deliver a usable image product to the customer. Providing user-oriented access is the key to harvesting the bounty of data available from across the globe as it becomes available during the next several years. 


Fortunately, as evidenced by recent online Earth imagery offerings from Google, Microsoft and others, it’s clear there will be a dramatic and continuing growth in the accessibility and use of imagery data. However, without the policies and programs needed to take advantage of these worldwide Earth-observing systems, the United States will miss an important opportunity for global industry leadership and a chance to enhance its own Earth-observation industry. 
 

  
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