THIS IS IN FURTHER REPLY TO YOUR REQUEST FOR THE COMMENTS OF THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION ON THE BILL H.R. 4836, THE LAND REMOTE-SENSING COMMECIALIZATION ACT OF 1984.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T02051R000200280005-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: LETTER

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' IV/%to/I
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Washington, D.C.
20546
Honorable James H. Scheuer
Chairman
Subcommittee on Natural Resources,
Agriculture Research and Environment
Canmittee on Science and Technology
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This is in further reply to your request for the comments of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration on the bill H.R. 4836, the "Land
Remote-Sensing Ca mercialization Act of 1984."
H.R. 4836 would set forth the framework whereby a contractor would be
chosen by the Secretary of Cannerce to sell data from the existing Land
Remote-Sensing Satellite System and provide the Secretary of Commerce with
the authority to license operators of civilian land remote sensing
satellites.
NASA supports the general purpose of H.R. 4836; however, we have concerns
with several of the bill's key provisions. Accordingly, we do not support
the enactment of the bill as presently drafted. Our specific concerns are
set forth below.
In general, we note that although the bill specifies "land" remote sensing
in the title and purpose sections, this focus is confused by including
DRAFT YMPM CN H.R. 4836
STAT
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"ocean" data throughout the bill. In title V, "Research and Development",
the confusion is compounded by including atmospheric research and
applications in the subject matter. There is no generally recognized
operational capability in ocean remote sensing; including oceans in this
bill specifies the conditions for commercialization of ocean remote
sensing long before the parameters of any such system have been worked
out, thus needlessly inhibiting innovation in the creation of such a
national capability. In our opinion, the subject matter of H.R. 4836
should be limited to dealing only with "land" remote sensing.
Another major difficulty with the bill is that it is fundamentally at odds
with certain of the commercialization actions currently underway in the
Department of Commerce. The Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the
Department of (amerce on January 3, 1984, specifically rules out
proposals for operation of the present Landsat system divorced from future
operation of a commercially supplied system, while the bill directs the
Secretary of Commerce to do exactly what the RFP disallows. Passage of
the bill in this form could force the whole RFP process to be reopened,
with consequent major delay in reaching agreement on commercialization
between the Department of Commerce and a private sector entity. A
frequently repeated goal of the bill is to ensure data continuity,
something that is already marginal in technical feasibility, if it is
possible at all. The extra delay occasioned by reopening the RFP process
could make continuity totally impossible.
We have the following comments on specific sections of the bill.
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Section 302(b)(7) provides that the Secretary of Commerce may provide that
a contractor utilize, on a space available basis, civilian government
satellites as platform for a civilian remote sensing satellite system
only if the contractor reimburses the government for all related costs
incurred including Na reasonable and proportionate share of fixed,
spacecraft, data transmission, and launch costs." In essence, this
provision would authorize the secretary of commerce to interfere in joint
endeavor agreements between a contractor and NASA and would in effect
override NASA's authority under 42 U.S.C. 2473(c)(6) which permits NASA to
enter into cooperative arrangements with private entities without
reimbursement.
Section 403(a) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to license consortia
of private sector parties and government agencies to operate civil remote
sensing space systems. The effect of this paragraph again would be to
authorize the Secretary of Commerce to interfere in the legitimate
activities of government agencies to enter into cooperative or other
arrangements with private sector parties. This authority of the Secretary
of Cocmmerce is further strengthened through section 406(b) wherein Federal
agencies are "authorized and encouraged to conduct joint ventures in
remote sensing space systems by forming consortia with private firms
(which consortia will not compete with other United States private sector
activities) in accordance with the provisions of section 402 and 403 of
this Act." Thus, Federal agencies could not conduct a joint venture in a
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non-operational remote sensing system with a private firm unless the
Secretary of Canmeroe licensed the activity. Such an intrusion in the
activities of an agency such as NASA, whose main purpose is research and
development, would be unacceptable, in our opinion.
Section 502 is redundant as to its direction to NASA to conduct programs
in remote sensing research and development since that is already a part of
NASA's mandate. The section's instructions to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to conduct remote sensing research and
development and experimental remote sensing programs is an intrusion into
NASA's authority which can only result in a duplication and/or overlapping
of activities. Subparagraph (d) joins the programs of NASA and NOAA in
research and development which we believe is unacceptable. NASA has many
years of experience in research and development of remote sensing
programs. NASA's experience is in the operation of satellites that have
been basically developed by NASA. We do not understand why the bill would
attempt to establish another separate program of research and development
in NOAA and insist that NASA tailor its program to NASA's program. Such
duplicative efforts could result in an unfortunate waste of the taxpayers
Section 601 - NASA endorses the requirement that the system operator of a
Iandsat-and/or follow-on Landsat land remote sensing system make data
available to all users on a nondiscriminatory basis. This approach would
continue the practices initiated and pursued in NASA's experimental
Landsat program, as well as other NASA experimental remote sensing
missions. This approach is also consistent with the announced policy of
the French government to make SPOT (the French earth observation satellite
system) data available on a nondiscriminatory basis.. Nondiscriminatory
data access has been instrumental in preserving U.S. freedom of action in
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the conduct of remote sensing from space and in fostering NASA's ability
to engage in global research and to enjoy uncontested access to data of
all areas of the world. ?
Although the bill contemplates sale of remote sensing data on a
nondiscriminatory basis, it does not appear to prohibit a satellite
operator from obtaining a license for a civil remote sensing satellite and
retaining the data for its use only, rather than selling the data. While
this does not cause a problem for NASA, we are not certain that this is
what the bill intends.
Section 602 - The archive of remotely sensed data provided in this section
should be required to be useful for research and development purposes. TO
that end, we believe it is in the public interest that there be a
mechanism for interested parties to agree on the scope of the collection
maintained in the archive. Further, we believe there should be a
requirement that the archivist ensure a continuing capability to access
old data in the collection, whether or not such old data is in a fort in
regular, current use.
Section 604(a), in essence would override NASA's authority in 42 U.S.C.
2473(c)(6) to provide services on a cooperative basis to a system operator
without reimbursement for launch services. NASA presently has the
authority to provide launch services on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable
basis depending on which NASA considers to be in the best interest of the
government. NASA has not abused this authority. Rather it is through the
use of this authority in a judicious manner that NASA has been able to
further the technical canpetence and ability of the United States in the
area of space research and development.
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Section 606(b)(2) - We assume that the authority given the secretary of
State to provide land remote sensing data, technology and training to
developing nations is in addition to NASA's authority presently to provide
such aid.
We recognize that section 607 is intended to ensure that existing
provisions of law, such as NASA authorities, are not to be replaced by the
requirements of this Act. However, in view of sane of the requirements of
this Act noted above, it is not possible to give effect to those
requirements as additions to rather than in place of authorities that NASA
has at this time.
Due to the concerns noted above, NASA does not agree with the bill as it
is presently written. The Office of Management and Budget advises that
there is no objection to the submission of this report to the Congress.
Sincerely,
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