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1. 
OVERVIEW OF BRAZILIAN REMOTE SENSING ACTIVITIES 
Claudio R. Sonnenburg 
Head,Remote Sensing Department 
Institute for Space Research - INPE 
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - INPE 
Sao Jose dos Campos, SP - BRASIL 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Remote Sensing 
Program of the Institute for Space Research (INPE) and the RADAMBRASIL 
Project which, at this time, constitute the main efforts of the application 
of remote sensing in Brazil. 
The Brazilian territory has a little over 8,500,000 kn, of 
which 3,570,000 correspond to the Amazon region. A substantial part of 
what remains corresponds to the Central-West region, with an area of 
1,800,000 km, and the Northeast region with 1,540,00 km. These regions, 
which collectively correspond to 82% of the area of the nation, have a low 
population density and are very little known, mainly in the area of natural 
resources. In this respect, remote sensing, especially by satellites,which 
allows surveys of large areas very rapidly and at relatively low costs, is 
the perfect tool for a large and developing nation like Brazil to augment 
the knowledge of its natural resources. 
The Brazilian remote sensing activities started in 1968 when 
a group of researchers from several government institutions, under. the 
coordination of INPE, at that time National Commission for Space Activities 
(CNAE), participated in a remote sensing training course offered by NASA/ 
JSC. From 1969 to 1970 INPE's main concern was to train persons from other 
institutions, which were potential users of this new technology, as well as 
to set up its own research group. At this time, a significant step was the 
acquisition of a 10 passenger twin engine Bandeirante aircraft. It was 
equipped with several sensors. 
In 1970 INPE initiated studies to install a Landsat 
receiving and processing station. At the same time, the National Department