of Mineral Production (DNPM) of the Ministry of Mines and Energy decided 
to execute a project to survey the mineral resources of part of the Amazon 
region. This project was within the government's Plan of National Integra 
tion which had a very high priority. This led the DNPM to opt for  side- and Pre 
looking radar as its main.source of information in the execution of this 
survey, for which it created its own remote sensing group. At this time 4 
the prediction was that INPE's Landsat station would be operational only 
by the end of 1973. Initially an area of 44,000 km? in the Amazon region 
was to be surveyed with the GEMS 1000 side-looking radar of the Goodyear 
Corp. This project was named RADAM for RADar in the AMazon. Later the 
scope of the project was expanded several times until it covered most of 
the Amazon region. In 1975 it was once more expanded to cover the whole 
Brazilian territory and was then named RADAMBRASIL Project. 
Scienti 
By May of 1973 INPE's Landsat station was already sariat 
recording data that had to be sent to NASA for processing. At the end of and de: 
1974 the processing station started its operation precariously, becoming applica 
completely operational only by mid 1975. At this time INPE installed an Progran 
automatic multispectral image analysis system from GE, an Image-100. 
e 
Today, INPE with a group of 68 researchers in the areas of 1 
geology, geography, oceanography, agronomy, forestry, hydrology, pollution 
and image processing, in addition to approximately 70 persons involved 2.1 - 
with the reception, processing and distribution of Landsat imagery, and 
the RADAMBRASIL Project with a technical group of more than 300 persons in 
the areas of geology, agronomy, forestry, geography and cartography Process 
constitute the main efforts in the application of remote sensing in Brazil. 
INPE's objectives being: Mato Gr 
terri to 
e the development of new methodologies for the application of remote Corresr 
sensing, mainly Landsat imagery, in the survey of natural resources i Tons 
and observation of the environment; Sao 
Paulist 
e wide dissemination of Landsat products and their applications; 
e transference of the methodologies considered operational to other 
institutions;