§ 5601. — Findings.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC5601]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 82--LAND REMOTE SENSING POLICY
Sec. 5601. Findings
The Congress finds and declares the following:
(1) The continuous collection and utilization of land remote
sensing data from space are of major benefit in studying and
understanding human impacts on the global environment, in managing
the Earth's natural resources, in carrying out national security
functions, and in planning and conducting many other activities of
scientific, economic, and social importance.
(2) The Federal Government's Landsat system established the
United States as the world leader in land remote sensing technology.
(3) The national interest of the United States lies in
maintaining international leadership in satellite land remote
sensing and in broadly promoting the beneficial use of remote
sensing data.
(4) The cost of Landsat data has impeded the use of such data
for scientific purposes, such as for global environmental change
research, as well as for other public sector applications.
(5) Given the importance of the Landsat program to the United
States, urgent actions, including expedited procurement procedures,
are required to ensure data continuity.
(6) Full commercialization of the Landsat program cannot be
achieved within the foreseeable future, and thus should not serve as
the near-term goal of national policy on land remote sensing;
however, commercialization of land remote sensing should remain a
long-term goal of United States policy.
(7) Despite the success and importance of the Landsat system,
funding and organizational uncertainties over the past several years
have placed its future in doubt and have jeopardized United States
leadership in land remote sensing.
(8) Recognizing the importance of the Landsat program in helping
to meet national and commercial objectives, the President approved,
on February 11, 1992, a National Space Policy Directive which was
developed by the National Space Council and commits the United
States to ensuring the continuity of Landsat coverage into the 21st
century.
(9) Because Landsat data are particularly important for national
security purposes and global environmental change research,
management responsibilities for the program should be transferred
from the Department of Commerce to an integrated program management
involving the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
(10) Regardless of management responsibilities for the Landsat
program, the Nation's broad civilian, national security, commercial,
and foreign policy interests in remote sensing will best be served
by ensuring that Landsat remains an unclassified program that
operates according to the principles of open skies and
nondiscriminatory access.
(11) Technological advances aimed at reducing the size and
weight of satellite systems hold the potential for dramatic
reductions in the cost, and substantial improvements in the
capabilities, of future land remote sensing systems, but such
technological advances have not been demonstrated for land remote
sensing and therefore cannot be relied upon as the sole means of
achieving data continuity for the Landsat program.
(12) A technology demonstration program involving advanced
remote sensing technologies could serve a vital role in determining
the design of a follow-on spacecraft to Landsat 7, while also
helping to determine whether such a spacecraft should be funded by
the United States Government, by the private sector, or by an
international consortium.
(13) To maximize the value of the Landsat program to the
American public, unenhanced Landsat 4 through 6 data should be made
available, at a minimum, to United States Government agencies, to
global environmental change researchers, and to other researchers
who are financially supported by the United States Government, at
the cost of fulfilling user requests, and unenhanced Landsat 7 data
should be made available to all users at the cost of fulfilling user
requests.
(14) To stimulate development of the commercial market for
unenhanced data and value-added services, the United States
Government should adopt a data policy for Landsat 7 which allows
competition within the private sector for distribution of unenhanced
data and value-added services.
(15) Development of the remote sensing market and the provision
of commercial value-added services based on remote sensing data
should remain exclusively the function of the private sector.
(16) It is in the best interest of the United States to maintain
a permanent, comprehensive Government archive of global Landsat and
other land remote sensing data for long-term monitoring and study of
the changing global environment.
(Pub. L. 102-555, Sec. 2, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4163.)
Short Title
Section 1 of Pub. L. 102-555 provided that: ``This Act [enacting
this chapter and repealing chapter 68 (Sec. 4201 et seq.) of this title]
may be cited as the `Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992'.''
