data acquired over Canada will probably be available to Cana 
dian users on a commercial basis. Japan is developing an 
Earth Resources Satellite, ERS-1, with a possible launch in 
the late 1980s. Canada may be able to enter into an agree 
ment with the Japanese NASDA to receive limited ERS-1 data 
on Canadian northern areas. 
Both Landsat-D and SPOT feature the use of visible/infrared 
(VIR) sensors, and are therefore limited by cloud cover. How 
ever, both ESA's and NASDA's ERS-1 and Canada's Radarsat will 
carry synthetic aperture radar (SAR) which will be able to 
produce high-resolution images, through cloud, on both day 
time and night-time passes. The prototypes for such sensors 
were the L-band SAR carried on NASA's short-lived Seasat-A 
in 1978 and a similar Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) carried on 
Columbia's second space flight in November 1981. 
Several years ago, after many congressional committee hear 
ings, the U.S. government set in motion a process leading 
toward a possible orderly transfer of Landsat assets from 
the government (NASA and NOAA) to private enterprise by 
about 1985-86. In 1981, Comsat General Corporation submit 
ted a proposal to acquire NOAA's GOES and TIROS weather sate 
llite assets and Landsat-D assets, as a package. 
It is commonly believed that Comsat's aim is to offer servi 
ces globally, without loss of continuity, gradually shifting 
from a U.S. government-subsidized basis to a full commercial 
basis. It seems likely that they would ultimately rationa 
lize the various satellite systems (GOES, TIROS, Landsat) 
under their Eavthstar program, expanding and improving the 
broad spectrum of services internationally. They would pro 
bably operate through branches or agents in several countries 
They would probably continue to offer data downlinking dir 
ectly to foreign stations on a commercial contract basis, 
subject to conventional copyright, royalty and re-export dis 
tribution restrictions. 
It is commonly known that the Comsat proposal is presently 
in the U.S. government's evaluation processes, and a deci 
sion could be forthcoming before the end of 1982. If the 
government decides in favor of privatization (as a general 
issue, not necessarily in terms of the Comsat proposal), 
then enabling legislation could proceed through 1983 or 1984. 
The divestment and transfer could probably be accommodated in 
departmental budgets in 1984 and 1985, and completed in 1985. 
During the decade 1972-82, the United States has held a be 
nign government monopoly in the field of civilian satellite 
remote sensing of Earth. However, in the next two or three 
years the situation may change dramatically to one of inter 
national competition based on two things: 
I the probable privatization of the U.S. Landsat-D 
system, probably between 1983 and 1985 
I the present aggressive export selling of France's 
SPOT satellite and related services and technologies 
through the French PROSPACE association (under the 
aegis of CNES), with SPOT scheduled for 1984 launch.