The U.S. Government should “partner with the commercial remote sensing industry to leverage the latest available technology for the purpose of ensuring the continuity of Landsat data”, MAPPS has suggested to the Bush Administration.
In a letter to Dr. John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House, MAPPS recommended that the U.S. Government proceed immediately to:
• Fulfill users’ needs with existing commercial imagery sources, following guidelines consistent with the new Commercial Remote Sensing Policy; and
• Proceed with an updated replacement for Landsat 7, managed by NOAA/NESDIS.
MAPPS, an association of private sector geospatial firms, ranging from commercial satellite remote sensing operators to airborne image acquisition firms, to value-added mapping and image processing companies, said “the commercial remote sensing community is anxious to partner with the U.S. Government towards ensuring the continuity of Landsat data and furthering U.S. leadership in the associated technologies. MAPPS asserts that there is a commercial partnership business model for medium resolution data, and strongly urges the Administration to emphasize a commercial/government partnership model for a Landsat follow-on”.
The association went on to note, “recognizing NASA’s past troubles with the Landsat program and consistent with the agency’s recently reconstituted mission, we recommend that NASA relinquish its role as operator of the Landsat follow-on program to NOAA/NESDIS. Given its expanding operational role in Earth Observations and its past success with cooperation among other U.S. Government agencies and with industry, it is appropriate for NOAA/NESDIS to manage this program”.
The full text of the MAPPS letter follows:
April 15, 2004
The Honorable John H. Marburger, III
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
Washington, DC 20502
FAX (202) 456-6022
Re: MAPPS View of the Nation’s Landsat Program
Dear Dr. Marburger:
MAPPS is a national trade association representing the broad geospatial community, including both commercial remote sensing satellite operators and the value-added services community. As an organization whose members have long been strong supporters of the nation’s Landsat program, MAPPS respectfully urges the U.S. Government to partner with the commercial remote sensing industry to leverage the latest available technology for the purpose of ensuring the continuity of Landsat data.
We are taking this opportunity to outline our views on the future of Landsat so that we may begin a dialogue with your office on this important issue.
The data provided by the Landsat program for over 30 years has been invaluable in monitoring the changes in our global environment. This rich source of data has advanced the science community’s understanding of the state of our world and fostered the development of new tools and approaches to understanding our planet.
Landsat images are the primary tool used to monitor global crop status and predict yields, map environmental conditions, assess rates of deforestation and reforestation, map vegetation types, monitor land cover changes, plot wildfire boundaries and assess post-fire burn severity, map coral reef decline, and for countless other applications.
On May 31, 2003 artifacts appeared within the data collected by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument on-board the Landsat 7 spacecraft, and the U.S. Government has since determined that the sensor malfunction is permanent. Shortly after, in September of 2003, NASA rejected a proposal by the firm Resource-21 to provide a commercial solution to a Landsat follow-on system called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).
With the loss of quality data from Landsat 7 and NASA’s unfortunate delays on the LDCM program, our nation faces a critical data gap. Recognizing the importance of data continuity and assured telemetry streams, MAPPS strongly urges the U.S. Government to partner with the commercial remote sensing community to leverage the latest available technology for the purpose of ensuring the continuity of Landsat data. We also recommend that NASA relinquish its role as operator of the Landsat follow-on program to NOAA given NOAA’s (National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS)) expanding role in operational earth observation programs.
Therefore, we respectfully recommend that the U.S. Government proceed immediately to:
• Fulfill users’ needs with existing commercial imagery sources, following guidelines consistent with the new Commercial Remote Sensing Policy; and
• Proceed with an updated replacement for Landsat 7, managed by NOAA/NESDIS.
The commercial remote sensing community is anxious to partner with the U.S. Government towards ensuring the continuity of Landsat data and furthering U.S. leadership in the associated technologies. MAPPS asserts that there is a commercial partnership business model for medium resolution data, and strongly urges the Administration to emphasize a commercial/government partnership model for a Landsat follow-on.
Recognizing NASA’s past troubles with the Landsat program and consistent with the agency’s recently reconstituted mission, we recommend that NASA relinquish its role as operator of the Landsat follow-on program to NOAA/NESDIS. Given its expanding operational role in Earth Observations and its past success with cooperation among other U.S. Government agencies and with industry, it is appropriate for NOAA/NESDIS to manage this program.
We look forward to discussing these issues with you further.
Sincerely,
John M. Palatiello
Executive Director