51 U.S.C.
United States Code, 2022 Edition
Title 51 - NATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL SPACE PROGRAMS
Subtitle VI - Earth Observations
CHAPTER 601 - LAND REMOTE SENSING POLICY
SUBCHAPTER I - GENERAL
From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov

### SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL

### §60101. Definitions

In this chapter:

(1) Cost of fulfilling user requests.—The term "cost of fulfilling user requests" means the incremental costs associated with providing product generation, reproduction, and distribution of unenhanced data in response to user requests and shall not include any acquisition, amortization, or depreciation of capital assets originally paid for by the United States Government or other costs not specifically attributable to fulfilling user requests.

(2) Data continuity.—The term "data continuity" means the continued acquisition and availability of unenhanced data which are, from the point of view of the user—

(A) sufficiently consistent (in terms of acquisition geometry, coverage characteristics, and spectral characteristics) with previous Landsat data to allow comparisons for global and regional change detection and characterization; and

(B) compatible with such data and with methods used to receive and process such data.

(3) Data preprocessing.—The term "data preprocessing"—

(A) may include—

(i) rectification of system and sensor distortions in land remote sensing data as it is received directly from the satellite in preparation for delivery to a user;

(ii) registration of such data with respect to features of the Earth; and

(iii) calibration of spectral response with respect to such data; but

(B) does not include conclusions, manipulations, or calculations derived from such data, or a combination of such data with other data.

(4) Land remote sensing.—The term "land remote sensing" means the collection of data which can be processed into imagery of surface features of the Earth from an unclassified satellite or satellites, other than an operational United States Government weather satellite.

(5) Landsat program management.—The term "Landsat Program Management" means the integrated program management structure—

(A) established by, and responsible to, the Administrator and the Secretary of Defense pursuant to section 60111(a) of this title; and

(B) consisting of appropriate officers and employees of the Administration, the Department of Defense, and any other United States Government agencies the President designates as responsible for the Landsat program.

(6) Landsat system.—The term "Landsat system" means Landsats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and any follow-on land remote sensing system operated and owned by the United States Government, along with any related ground equipment, systems, and facilities owned by the United States Government.

(7) Landsat 6 contractor.—The term "Landsat 6 contractor" means the private sector entity which was awarded the contract for spacecraft construction, operations, and data marketing rights for the Landsat 6 spacecraft.

(8) Landsat 7.—The term "Landsat 7" means the follow-on satellite to Landsat 6.

(9) National satellite land remote sensing data archive.—The term "National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive" means the archive established by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to the archival responsibilities defined in section 60142 of this title.

(10) Noncommercial purposes.—The term "noncommercial purposes" means activities undertaken by individuals or entities on the condition, upon receipt of unenhanced data, that—

(A) such data shall not be used in connection with any bid for a commercial contract, development of a commercial product, or any other non-United States Government activity that is expected, or has the potential, to be profitmaking;

(B) the results of such activities are disclosed in a timely and complete fashion in the open technical literature or other method of public release, except when such disclosure by the United States Government or its contractors would adversely affect the national security or foreign policy of the United States or violate a provision of law or regulation; and

(C) such data shall not be distributed in competition with unenhanced data provided by the Landsat 6 contractor.

(11) Secretary.—The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce.

(12) Unenhanced data.—The term "unenhanced data" means land remote sensing signals or imagery products that are unprocessed or subject only to data preprocessing.

(13) United states government and its affiliated users.—The term "United States Government and its affiliated users" means—

(A) United States Government agencies;

(B) researchers involved with the United States Global Change Research Program and its international counterpart programs; and

(C) other researchers and international entities that have signed with the United States Government a cooperative agreement involving the use of Landsat data for noncommercial purposes.

(Pub. L. 111–314, §3, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3409.)

Historical and Revision Notes
Revised Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large)
--- | --- | ---
60101 | 15 U.S.C. 5602. | Pub. L. 102–555, §3, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4164.

The definition of "Administrator" in section 3 of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–555, 106 Stat. 4164) is omitted as unnecessary because of the definition added by section 10101 of title 51.

#### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

#### Findings

Pub. L. 102–555, §2, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4163, provided that: "The Congress finds and declares the following:

"(1) The continuous collection and utilization of land remote sensing data from space are of major benefit in studying and understanding human impacts on the global environment, in managing the Earth's natural resources, in carrying out national security functions, and in planning and conducting many other activities of scientific, economic, and social importance.

"(2) The Federal Government's Landsat system established the United States as the world leader in land remote sensing technology.

"(3) The national interest of the United States lies in maintaining international leadership in satellite land remote sensing and in broadly promoting the beneficial use of remote sensing data.

"(4) The cost of Landsat data has impeded the use of such data for scientific purposes, such as for global environmental change research, as well as for other public sector applications.

"(5) Given the importance of the Landsat program to the United States, urgent actions, including expedited procurement procedures, are required to ensure data continuity.

"(6) Full commercialization of the Landsat program cannot be achieved within the foreseeable future, and thus should not serve as the near-term goal of national policy on land remote sensing; however, commercialization of land remote sensing should remain a long-term goal of United States policy.

"(7) Despite the success and importance of the Landsat system, funding and organizational uncertainties over the past several years have placed its future in doubt and have jeopardized United States leadership in land remote sensing.

"(8) Recognizing the importance of the Landsat program in helping to meet national and commercial objectives, the President approved, on February 11, 1992, a National Space Policy Directive which was developed by the National Space Council and commits the United States to ensuring the continuity of Landsat coverage into the 21st century.

"(9) Because Landsat data are particularly important for national security purposes and global environmental change research, management responsibilities for the program should be transferred from the Department of Commerce to an integrated program management involving the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

"(10) Regardless of management responsibilities for the Landsat program, the Nation's broad civilian, national security, commercial, and foreign policy interests in remote sensing will best be served by ensuring that Landsat remains an unclassified program that operates according to the principles of open skies and nondiscriminatory access.

"(11) Technological advances aimed at reducing the size and weight of satellite systems hold the potential for dramatic reductions in the cost, and substantial improvements in the capabilities, of future land remote sensing systems, but such technological advances have not been demonstrated for land remote sensing and therefore cannot be relied upon as the sole means of achieving data continuity for the Landsat program.

"(12) A technology demonstration program involving advanced remote sensing technologies could serve a vital role in determining the design of a follow-on spacecraft to Landsat 7, while also helping to determine whether such a spacecraft should be funded by the United States Government, by the private sector, or by an international consortium.

"(13) To maximize the value of the Landsat program to the American public, unenhanced Landsat 4 through 6 data should be made available, at a minimum, to United States Government agencies, to global environmental change researchers, and to other researchers who are financially supported by the United States Government, at the cost of fulfilling user requests, and unenhanced Landsat 7 data should be made available to all users at the cost of fulfilling user requests.

"(14) To stimulate development of the commercial market for unenhanced data and value-added services, the United States Government should adopt a data policy for Landsat 7 which allows competition within the private sector for distribution of unenhanced data and value-added services.

"(15) Development of the remote sensing market and the provision of commercial value-added services based on remote sensing data should remain exclusively the function of the private sector.

"(16) It is in the best interest of the United States to maintain a permanent, comprehensive Government archive of global Landsat and other land remote sensing data for long-term monitoring and study of the changing global environment."

[For definition of terms used in section 2 of Pub. L. 102–555, set out above, see section 3 of Pub. L. 102–555, Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4164, which was classified to former section 5602 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, and was repealed and reenacted as this section by Pub. L. 111–314, §§3, 6, Dec. 18, 2010, 124 Stat. 3328, 3444.]