U.S. GOVERNMENT SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING PROGRAMS: 1995-2000 
Roy Welch 
Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS) 
Department of Geography 
The University of Georgia 
Athens, Georgia 30602 USA 
ISPRS Commission IV, Working Group 2 
KEY WORDS: Satellite, Remote_Sensing, Mapping 
ABSTRACT: 
An overview of U.S. remote sensing satellite programs for the years 1995 to 2000 is presented. Details are provided for the NOAA, 
Landsat and Earth Observing System (EOS) missions. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
There has been a world-wide increase in Earth remote sensing 
satellite programs since the 1992 International Society for 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Congress held 
in Washington, D.C. It is realized, today, that the processes of 
the Earth and its people do not operate in isolation. Therefore, 
the goal of many government sponsored satellite programs 
includes global monitoring to enhance our understanding of the 
environment and to allow us to manage vital resources. In 
addition, there is a growing market for high resolution image 
data and orthoimage products for more focused studies of 
smaller areas. In the United States, the first issue is being 
addressed by the government and the second issue by 
commercial enterprises (Table 1). It is the government spon- 
sored remote sensing programs that are addressed in this paper. 
Government sponsored remote sensing satellite programs tend 
to be long-term with an emphasis on global coverage at lower 
spatial resolutions. Continuity with existing programs is 
important and applications include environmental monitoring 
and global change assessment. Commercial remote sensing 
satellite programs, on the other hand, are a more recent 
phenomenon with many endeavors still in the planning stages. 
These programs tend to: 1) emphasize the acquisition of high 
spatial resolution image data (e.g., 1 m) for limited areas on a 
demand-basis; and 2) stereo images for the production of 
digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthoimage products. 
Spectral band widths are also relatively narrow (typically 0.45 
to 0.9 um) compared to those used or planned for government 
remote sensing satellite programs. 
Table 1. A Sample of U.S. Space Programs 1995-2000 
U.S. Government | Commercial 
NOAA GDE 
LANDSAT-7 Space Imaging 
EOS Orbimage 
EarthWatch 
Resource 21 
TRW Lewis 
CTA Clark 
934 
2. NOAA 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA) is one of the oldest U.S. space satellite programs 
dating back to the late 1970’s. Image data acquired by the 
Advanced High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor with 
a 1.1 km spatial resolution and 5 bands are well adapted for 
land monitoring applications, and are widely used because of 
the broad area coverage and low cost (NOAA, 1995). 
Table 2. NOAA Remote Sensing Satellite Program 
Satellite 
833 km Altitude 
Sun Synchronous Orbit (98.9?) 
Orbit Period 102 min. 
Daily (Visible) and Twice-Daily (TIR) Coverage 
Sensor 
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 
1.1 km Spatial Resolution 
4 or 5 Bands (1 Visible, 1 NOR, 3 TIR) 
2400 km Swath Width 
Data 
Full Resolution Archive as Local Area Coverage (LAC) 
Resampled Archive as Global Area Coverage (GAC) 
AVHRR image data are useful for classifying general 
categories of land cover. The high temporal resolution and low 
cost of the data also are important for resource monitoring 
applications and input to global or regional models. The joint 
NOAA and National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
(NASA) Pathfinder Program, for example, makes use of 
AVHRR and Landsat image data to: 1) take advantage of 
currently archived image data in support of global change 
research; and 2) test processing and data management strategies 
for handling the enormous amounts of data that are expected 
from the Earth Observing System (EOS) program planned for 
later in the decade (NOAA-NASA, 1994). 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B4. Vienna 1996 
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