2019 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation— Land Remote Sensing Satellite Compendium Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation NASA • NGA • NOAA • USDA • USGS Circular 1455 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover. Image of Landsat 8 satellite over North America. Source: AGI’s System Tool Kit. Facing page. In shallow waters surrounding the Tyuleniy Archipelago in the Caspian Sea, chunks of ice were the artists. The 3-meter-deep water makes the dark green vegetation on the sea bottom visible. The lines scratched in that vegetation were caused by ice chunks, pushed upward and downward by wind and currents, scouring the sea floor. 2019 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation—Land Remote Sensing Satellite Compendium By Jon B. Christopherson, Shankar N. Ramaseri Chandra, and Joel Q. Quanbeck Circular 1455 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior DAVID BERNHARDT, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey James F. Reilly II, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2019 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit https://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit https://store.usgs.gov. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials JACIE as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Christopherson, J.B., Ramaseri Chandra, S.N., and Quanbeck, J.Q., 2019, 2019 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation—Land remote sensing satellite compendium: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1455, 191 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/cir1455. ISSN 1067-084X (print) ISSN 2330-5703 (online) ISBN 978-1-4113-4322-1 iii Preface The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Land Imaging Program (NLIP) has a responsibility to provide imagery for the Nation in support of science, land management, and other needs. The USGS NLIP operates the Landsat series of satellites, and actively manages 46 years of imagery from diverse sources as a continuous record of our changing planet. To understand the user needs for Earth observation, measurement, and monitoring, the Require- ments, Capabilities, and Analysis for Earth Observation (RCA-EO) Project has been established. One of the missions of the RCA-EO Project is to identify and catalog existing and planned capabilities for measuring and monitoring the Earth. The RCA-EO Project also supports the Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) mission and developed this compendium as one of the USGS contributions to the JACIE effort. This publication was produced by the USGS NLIP RCA-EO Project Team (Gregory Stensaas, Project Manager) under the Observing Systems Branch (Jennifer Lacey, Branch Chief) at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Authors: Jon B. Christopherson, KBR, contractor for the USGS. Shankar N. Ramaseri Chandra, KBR, contractor for the USGS. Joel Q. Quanbeck, KBR, contractor for the USGS. JACIE iv Acknowledgments In the 1990s and 2000s, William “Bill” Stoney, after a long and distinguished career at NASA including serving as Director of NASA’s Earth Observation Programs, compiled and maintained a list of land-imaging satellites. He shared this list for general reference and for the general ben- efit of the remote sensing community. Bill realized the beginnings of the rapid growth of Earth observation and, through his list, helped others understand what was happening in the industry. The American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing published the 2008 version of Bill’s ASPRS GUIDE TO LAND IMAGING SATELLITES on the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing website, where it remains available. In recent years, calls have been made for a new, updated version of the “Bill Stoney list.” We hope that this compendium is an answer to those calls and begins to fill the niche that Mr. Stoney created. Thanks, Bill! JACIE v Contents Preface ...........................................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................iv Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation ................................................................................1 The Compendium of Land Remote Sensing Satellites ....................................................................1 Changes in Remote Sensing ........................................................................................................................3 Compendium Coverage, Conventions, and Caveats .......................................................................3 History of Land Remote Sensing from Space ...........................................................................................5 First Images of the Earth from Space ................................................................................................5 First Imagery from Orbit ..............................................................................................................5 Early Drivers of Earth Remote Sensing ....................................................................................5 Weather Imaging .........................................................................................................................5 Defense Reconnaissance—Corona .........................................................................................6 Dedicated Civil Land Imaging .............................................................................................................7 1972–99—Slow, Steady Growth ................................................................................................7 2000–Present—Accelerating Rapid Growth ...........................................................................7 Contributing Trends—Space is Cheaper and Easier ....................................................................10 Satellite Costs and Reliability ..................................................................................................10 Launch Services—Availability and Cost ................................................................................10 Supporting Infrastructure .........................................................................................................10 Contributing Trends—Remotely Sensed Data Usage ...................................................................10 Information Technology ............................................................................................................10 Supporting Factors ....................................................................................................................11 Trends in Satellite Land Remote Sensing ..............................................................................11 The Four Resolutions .................................................................................................................11 Synthetic Aperture Radar—The Promise of Radar .............................................................13 JACIE References Cited..........................................................................................................................................13 Orbits of Earth Observation Satellites ......................................................................................................15 Sun-Synchronous Repeat Orbits ......................................................................................................15 Subrecurrent Orbit ..............................................................................................................................15 Geosynchronous Orbit .......................................................................................................................16 Low-Altitude Orbits—International Space Station Orbit .............................................................18 Combined Repeat Cycle of Sentinel-2 and Landsat Satellites ....................................................18 Remote Sensing Law and Policy ...............................................................................................................21 Historic Development—Reconnaissance to Commercial Remote Sensing Policy .................21 Current Remote Sensing Policies of Major Space Remote Sensing Countries .......................22 United States ..............................................................................................................................22 Canada .........................................................................................................................................23 France ..........................................................................................................................................23 Germany ......................................................................................................................................23