CIVILIAN SATELLITES PENETRATE SOVIET SECRECY, PHOTOGRAPH PLANT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
} Declassified in_Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
P,,,4~~'~ WASHINGTON POST
2 May 1986
Civifian Satellites Pe~etiiSOi~t
Secrecy, Photograph Plant
Space Competition
dikes New Direction
By Nell Henderson
r t-ir P..t SS Wr st
A new kind of space competition
was latched this week as the west-
ern world turned to two civilian sat-
ellites to-pmetrate the Soviet cloak
of secrecy 1104 produce
Photographs
of the. I di gid nuclear reactor at
Unable to obtain aerial photos of
the sits wdt the Soviet union,
their
western np 0 - overhead gagandes 1ipee gained r
eac-
tor overhead
tor Tuesday front Landsat, the U.S.
government-owned remote sensing
satellite that has solo space photos
of the Earth since 1972.
Then yesterday a new French
satellite produced a more detailed
view of the reactor, showing dam-
age to the ground next to the re-
actor and breaking Landsat's 14-
year monopoly on such service
.
Computer analysis of the photo,
taken from 500 miles above the
earth by the French Spot satellite
and released in Sweden, showed
that smoke had stopped billowing
from the reactor and revealed a
long dark scorch mark on the
ground next to the reactor, said
Robert Lees, an image analyst for
Spot Image Corp., of Reston, the.
wholly owned subsidiary of the
French company created to market
spot s services.
The mark, at least 600 feet long,
is believed to be "the probable re-
sult of a blast," Lees said. Damage
to the building cannot be discerned
from the photo, but it is clear that
the smoille visible on the earlier
Landsat photo is gone, he said. Lees
cautioned, however, that the lack of
smoke does not mean the fire at the
reactor is out.
The Landsat photo revealed less
detail of the plant itself, but covered
a larger area and used. infrared
viewing to show, vegetatioq sur-
rounding the concrete facility.
While feeding an information-
hungry world with images of an in-
accessible site, the two photos il-
lustrated the strengths and weak-
nesses of. the only two non-military
satellites that sell their services to
anyone who will pay the price.
landeat, the old war horse. of ci-
vilian space photography, provided
the first photo. Spot, only launched -
in FebrgaM was slower because
the satellite is Aso new, but provided
a .level of detail previously available
only to the military. Technically not
yet open for business, Spot'a capa-
bilities have already thrown earth-
bound, news agencies, lawyers and
diplomats into a spin over the pos-
sibilities of a new era in civilian
space-based photography.
new-Soteeboology v .. not entirely
military sat-
ellitea are said to be capable of
reading license plates and newspa-
per headlines from space. What 1..
new is the detail now available to
the public, and the two local com-
panies now competing to sell it,
Since 1972, farmers, oil compa-
nies, geologists, foresters, foreign
governments and others interested
in land resource management have
bought satellite photos taken by
Landsat. The photos covered broad
expanses of the Earth, showing ero-
sion and vegetation patterns, broad
coastlines and mountain ranges.
The smallest discernible object is
98 by 98 feet.
Spot, by contrast, covers a
smaller area, but offers black and
white photos of 10 meter resolu-
tion, which means an object 33 feet
by 33 feet in size, or about half the
size of a tennis court, can be iden-
tified. The photos show clearly dis-
cernible reed, bridges, airlines, '
t*l and ablps..
Spot represent, a ON million .
investment by the French govern-
ment. Neither satellite actually
takes photographs: Their electronic
sensors record energy reflected off
the Earth', surface. The data is col-
lected on computer tape that can be
used to create a photograph or even
by tranderred onto a floppy disk.
Spot's prices range from $155
for a blackcVid white print to
$2,550 for a top-of-the-line comput-
er-compatible tape. Landsat's data
is marketed by the Earth Observa-
tion. Satellite Co. (Eosat), based in
Lanham, a joint venture of Hughes
Aircraft Co. and RCA Corp. Eosat's
Prices vary from $50 to $3,300.
Eosat says I.andsat has the ad-
vantage of being able to record im-
ages in a wider range of spectral
bands than Spot. Photographs in
some infrared bands are able to
identify certain mJ=* that Spot
images cannot detect, Eosat Pres-
ident Charles P. Williams said.
Spot, however, has the advan-
tages of being able to view the same
site more frequently than Landsat.
Both Landsat and Spot circle the
globe in near polar orbits. Landsat
covers nearly every. location , on
earth in 16 days, while Spot takes
26. But while Lsndsat'a sensors
"took" straight down, Spot's mirrors
allow the sensors to "look" to either
side-thus Landsat can catch a par-
ticular -site once every 16 days,
while Spot can view the same loca-
tion about twice a week. By viewing
a site from two angles, the satellite
also can generate a stereoscopic
image.
Thus, Landsat, by luck, obtained
the first photo of the Chernobyl re.
actor but will not be able to get an-
other for almost a month, while
Spot may obtain another glimpse
within a week.
Individuals, companies, U.S. gov-
ernment agencies or anybody else
can buy Spot's services from the
Reston-based subsidiary, while th.1.
rest of the world can turn to the..
parent company in Toulouse, .'.
France. That company, Spot Image.
S.A., is owned primarily by the
French space agency, but also re-
flects investments by French banks
and aerospace concerns, the Bel-
gian and Swedish governments, and
the Belgian telecommunications and ;t
aerospace industries.
Spot expects most of its business'
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11
'in sac~~
as
theii amft, -obgiata Me1dnR. E
mineral depoeita and ene rg lases
parties searching for oil and gas. But
-ns some time . tee gaenscammht
might start to wonder if. 1W. re
veaied things they don't want re-
veal d," said Robert Aamoth, a com
raunications attorney representing
RTNDA. "To impose restrictions on
the company acknowledges that
new uses are possible-that Iraq
could buy photos of Iran, while Lib-
ya could buy photos of downtown
Washington.
If buyers-want a photo of Pres-
ident Reagan's ranch, all they have
to do is provide the hitituds and Ion-
gitude, said David S. Julysn.4irec.
for of sales and marketing for the...
U.S. Spot Image subsidiary. "We
will apquire an image of any place is -
the world and make it available to
any and all interested parties ... I
plan to open, up every market I
can."
While opening new windows on
the world, the prospect of advanced
satellites for hire also stretches
space law beyond its current limits.
Nears executives have begun asking
whether the First Amendment will
float In space if they buy photos of
U.S. or Soviet military movements.
Foreign countries have expressed
concern about other governments
having access to satellite photos of
their territories. Others foresee
satellites as potential tools for cor-
porate spying.
"It's so new-the constitutional
issues are just being raised by the
technology," said Robert A. Destro,
a member of the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission and an expert on con-
stitutional law. "It's going to be
tricky, but Spot is going to go a long
way toward bringing First Amend-
ment issues into the 21st century."
Ollie of the keys to news agency
interest is the prospect of obtaining
overhead looks at territory where
aerial' photgraphy is not allowed.
ABC News has used Landsat photos
of the Iran-Iraq border, a Libyan mil-
itary airfield and Soviet naval bases.
"We will have access to the world
we wouldn't have otherwise," said
Mark Brender, an ABC News editor
and chairman of the media in space
committee of the Radio-Television
News - Directors Association
(RTNDA). "The time does not ap.
pear to be too far distant when pri-
vately held satellites and other or-
bital facilities will be as indispensible.
as the printing press and the camera...
to a free society."
News executives and their attop
net's already have eapre sed concern
about the possible dub between fl
tional security and space-based news
gathering.
press use of remote sensing satel-
Ines would constitute prior restraint
and would have to be justified by de-
monstrating a clear and present dan-
ger to national security. -
RTNDA also has argued that the
1984 Landsat Act, which began the
process of transferring Landset to
the private sector, grants "unbri-
dled discreton" to the government
to suspend, revoke or withold li-
censes on the basis of national se-
curity. "These provisions would be
unconstitutional under the, First
Amendment for being unduly vague
and overbroad, for allowing untjus.
tifed prior restraints to be imposed
on the press, and for dulling con-
stitutionally protected activities
without an adequate justification,"
RTNDA's attorneys wrote the
Transportation Department, whidr~
currently is developing rules to im-
plement the act.
Spot, however, is owned by the
French and therefore is "beyond
U.S. jurisdiction," Aamoth said.
"There would be no justification for
preventing U.S. news agencies
from getting pictures that are avail-
able to the rest of the world."
CIA Director William Case ,
commenting on Spot at a -recent
meeting of newspaper executives.
sand the a nc does not plan to
restrict media use o the sateh ate:
we can do about it Anybody can ao
out and get whatever information
can anybody
else in any other country I
ex-
pect that large news organizations
will have one those satellites am Q1 Casey added however that "the
press has a lity to listen
and consider" the government when
it argues that ^hMild be
witheld on national security
pun s an note at such co
oration occurs reousn y.
Destro, an avant law profes-
sor at Catholic ~mveratty, said that
foreign governments may prove
more difficult than our own, and
that the pressure could be indirect.
"What if Mikhail Gorbachev- calls
Ronald Reagan and says, 'Put a lid
on ABC or no summit'?"
"If ABC got a U2 to fly over the
Soviet Union, it probably would be
shot down," Destro said. "Foreign
men b might - retaliate
against Spot], or might consider
shooting down the satellite."
9
CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
A State Depa>rh ^a'.dk al is,
miliar with remotelsoode
_4 powy.
said the a ~sb
prejhft with
S~3 38 long an it makes the data
open, equal, nondie.
criminatory basis. Spot has vowed
to stick with this poky, called,.
"open skies," which was adopted by
the U.S. government when foreign
v
governments about dsat. expressed ner?
The e Verl
foreign approach is cur-
rent U.S. law gn policy, but no in-
requires other coun-
tries to follow it, they launch remote
sensing satellites. Some
observers have argued that it would
make business sense to offer exclu-
sive rights to satellite photos, and,;,
news organisations have argued
that they cannot consider investing
in the technology unless they can
have at least temporary rights to
such photos so they can beat their
competition.
Developing natiogs, however, are
"not thrilled with open skies," said
Ann Florini, a research director for
the U.N. Aseodati n, a private,
based in New research York. ~ ~
cern is lack of access to information
about their own territory. They are
worried they won't know what pic-
tures are being taken by whom for
what purpose."
Corporations might use Spot pho-
tos of their competitors' facilities
much as they now use aerial photos,
said Leila Kight, president of Wash-
ington Researchers Ltd, which in-
vestigates companies for other
firms. "There is no reason not to
use it for learning about competi.
tors or acquiaitiQ& targets. As awn
as the knowledge is made available,
there will be companies using it for
that purpose."
Eosat sees the heavenly compe-
tition as a boost for both busi-
nessess. Both satellite -companies
plan to spend millions to educate
new customers about the availabil-
ity and quality of their products.
Spot Image foresees a potential
worldwide market of about $100
million for its services, and expects
sales to U.S. customers to generate
almost half of total revenue. Eosat's
sales were $20 million last year.
Canadian and Japanese satellites
are expected to heighten the com-
petition within the next decade.
"The big deal is when you add
together the different attributes of
these systems," said Timothy Al-
exander, a partner in Satellite De-
velopment Services, based in the
District. "We can only barely dis-
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9 '3
At left, the Chernobyl nuclear plant as photographed by the Landsat 5
satellite at 945 a.m. local Kiev time on Tuesday. The plant is boated at the
upper left edge of the cooling pond. Below left, an enlargement of the plt
UNRED PRESS INKRINTSO LIREUIE)1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9
THE SPOT SATELLITE
T he Spot sa tars orbit and adjustable mirrors enable it produce photos of virhmIy
place an Earth, and to view the same location as often as twice week The sat.
elute orbits the Earth mowing from pose to pole as the Earth buns genes h it, Wong 26 days
to cover the globe. The minors allow Spot to view at an anft anabNng it to photograph
locations directly beneath it and to the~s. Viewing at an angle. Spot can We two images
of the same location within
sionsal" picture a few days and can produce a starV.&;Jpic, or ynae.dimen-
.
I/
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402810001-9