[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 22, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDSAT

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                       HON. GEORGE E. BROWN, JR.

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 1997

  Mr. BROWN of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to rise to say a 
few words to commemorate a significant milestone in our Nation's civil 
space program. July 23 marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of the 
first of the Landsat Earth observation satellites--satellites that have 
vastly increased our understanding of our home planet and provided 
innumerable practical benefits to our citizens.
  I agree with the words of the then-Administrator of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, Dr. James Fletcher, who stated in 
1976 that if he had ``one space age development to save the world, it 
would be Landsat and its successor satellites.'' With a 25-year 
continuous record of unique and scientifically important 
accomplishments, Landsat has indeed saved the world--capturing in 
images an invaluable photographic record of the changes that have 
occurred on our planet.
  It would be difficult to overstate the importance of what has been 
achieved with the Landsat program. The data from the Landsat spacecraft 
constitute the longest record of the Earth's landmass as seen from 
space. It is a record unmatched in detail, coverage, and quality. That 
data record has proven invaluable to the hundreds of users who observe 
and study the Earth, who manage and utilize its natural resources, and 
who monitor the changes brought on by natural processes and human 
activities. It has become an integral part of the U.S. Global Change 
Research Program and NASA's Mission to Planet Earth--critical 
initiatives that promise to deliver even more dramatic increases in our 
knowledge of the Earth in the coming decades.
  The uses to which Landsat data have been put are myriad. For example, 
the data have been used to monitor timber losses in the Pacific 
Northwest, estimate soil moisture and snow cover, and forest growth. 
Landsat has been used to monitor strip mine reclamation, land use in 
urban areas, and water quality in the Nation's lakes. It has been 
reported that Landsat images have even been used by law firms gathering 
legal evidence and by fast food restaurants seeking to estimate whether 
population growth has been great enough in a geographical area to 
warrant awarding a new franchise.
  Landsat was originally developed and launched by NASA in 1972 as an 
Earth Resources Technology Satellite [ERTS]. Landsat-1 was followed by 
a series of more advanced and capable spacecraft--a series that will 
continue with the scheduled launch of Landsat-7 in 1998. Landsat-7 will 
gather remotely sensed images of the Earth's land surface and its 
coastal regions for global change research, regional environmental 
change studies, national security uses, and many other civil and 
commercial applications.
  In addition, NASA is preparing to launch a next-generation 
counterpart to Landsat: the Earth Orbiter-1 [EO-1]. The EO-1 mission 
will demonstrate advanced new detector technology that could 
dramatically lower the cost of acquiring Landsat-type data in the 
future.
  What has the Landsat program achieved since that first launch 25 
years ago? It has established the United States as the world leader in 
land remote sensing. It has contributed significantly to our 
understanding of the Earth. It has helped create an entire value-added 
industry based on the creative uses of Landsat data. It has delivered 
on the promise of using space technology to meet societal needs. In 
short, it has made our world a better place.

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