Commercial Imagery Systems

Under the authority of The Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been delegated the responsibility for licensing privately-operated US remote sensing satellites. National Security Presidential Directive 27 issued in 2003 states that "U.S. companies are encouraged to build and operate commercial remote sensing space systems whose operational capabilities, products, and services are superior to any current or planned foreign commercial systems."

Vital national security, foreign policy, economic, and civil interests depend on the U.S. ability to remotely observe Earth from space. Toward these ends, the U.S. Government develops and operates highly capable remote sensing space systems for national security purposes, to satisfy civil mission needs, and to provide important public services. U.S. national security systems are valuable assets because of their high quality data collection, timeliness, volume, and coverage that provide a near real-time capability for regularly monitoring events around the world. U.S. civil remote sensing systems enable such activities as research on local, regional, and global environmental change, and support services and data products for weather, climate, and hazard response, and agricultural, transportation, and infrastructure planning.

A robust U.S. commercial remote sensing space industry can augment and potentially replace some existing U.S. Government capabilities and can contribute to U.S. military, intelligence, foreign policy, homeland security, and civil objectives, as well as U.S. economic competitiveness. Continued development and advancement of U.S. commercial remote sensing space capabilities also is essential to sustaining the nation's advantage in collecting information from space. In order to maintain a robust U.S. commercial remote sensing industry, we must enhance the international competitiveness of the industry.

Image analysis has been an important field of technology at least since the period of World War 2, when extensive use of image analysis, photogrammetry, and related technologies was used in conjunction with aerial photography for intelligence and bombing damage assessment purposes (among others). However, the extent of the use of image analysis (particularly image analysis of remotely-sensed images), particularly for identifying or locating targets of interest, has always been limited by the need for highly-trained, specialized image analysts or interpreters. The need for specialized (and expensive) skills has limited the use of image analysis to a correspondingly limited range of applications (notably military, homeland defense, and law enforcement).

The market for image analysis has also historically been limited by the high cost of obtaining images to analyze. In the military arena, the benefits were sufficiently apparent that large numbers of military reconnaissance flights were made over regions of interest since World War 2. But the cost of such flights virtually totally excluded all commercial applications of image analysis. Starting in the 1970s with the Landsat satellite, this began to change as low resolution satellite images became publicly available. A series of new satellites has opened up progressively more applications as the resolution, spectral coverage, geographic coverage, and cost per image have all continuously improved; accordingly, a significant market in commercial remote sensing imagery has emerged. But even this market has been limited from achieving its full potential because of the still-present requirement for expensive, scarce image analysis talent. Some progress has been made in automated image analysis technologies, but for a vast range of current and potential applications, large scale image analysis (such as would be needed when analyzing satellite images of a large region) remains too expensive and too supply-constrained to use.

Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz noted that in approximately one decade as government space-imaging requirements — specifically military and intelligence requirements — changed, the commercial remote sensing satellite industry decreased from three companies to one. 1 EOSAT began in the 1980s. SpaceImaging began circa 1994. It acquired EOSAT in 1996. WorldView Imaging began in 1992. WorldView Imaging changed its name to Earthwatch in 1995. Earthwatch changed its name to DigitalGlobe in 2001. In the early 2000s, there were three operators: DigitalGlobe, SpaceImaging and Orbimage (former subsidiary of Orbital Imaging). The government (NIMA/NGA) tendered two contracts. SpaceImaging was not awarded one of the contracts and failed. SpaceImaging was acquired by Orbimage in 2005. Orbimage changed its name to GeoEye in 2006. GeoEye and DigitalGlobe merged in 2012 when the government changed its requirements for imaging services.

Gabrynowicz noted that the remaining company continued to operate only due to its continuing National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) contract. Is this situation the result of the government harming industry development by attempting to commercialize satellite remote sensing with public funds and exercising control over companies to meet mission needs? Or is the situation the result of the private sector being dependent on government funding rather than risking its own capital and executing bona fide business plans? Or is it both? ... what is evident is that after years of providing funds, contracts, products, and services, the fact remains that there is no sustained long-term commercial remote sensing satellite industry in the U.S. What does exist — a single entity — exists because of military funding, not because of an independent market.