U.S. National Security and Government Regulation of Commercial Remote Sensing from Outer Space
![handle is hein.journals/airfor50 and id is 257 raw text is: U.S. National Security And Government
Regulation Of Commercial Remote Sensing
From Outer Space
CAPTAIN MICHAEL R. HOVERSTEN*
I. INTRODUCTION
Space-based remotely sensed imagery became commercially available
on a world wide nondiscriminatory basis in 1972 with the advent of the United
States of America's (U.S.) Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS).'
Until that time, such information was the exclusive province of military and
intelligence communities of the major world powers. With the launch of the
French Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) I satellite in
1986, remotely sensed imagery with ten meter resolution2 became
commercially available. In 1987, the former Soviet Union made data with five
meter resolution available.3 Today, Space Imaging Inc., a private company,
sells images with better than one meter resolution on the international market
and hopes to achieve 0.5 meter resolution by 2004.4 While Space Imaging Inc.
was the first to produce commercial images for sale, only Space Imaging, Inc.
has put a one-meter craft into orbit, other companies in the U.S., Russia, Japan,
Israel, and South Korea are planning to follow suit.5 It is estimated that the
remote sensing market will generate $2 to $2.5 billion dollars in revenue by
2005.6
Captain Hoversten (B.S., Park College, J.D., University of Mississippi, LL.M, McGill
University) is assigned as Chief, Air and Space Law Branch, International and Operations
Law Division, Office of the Air Force Judge Advocate General.
See M. Umberger, Commercial Observation Satellite Capabilities, in COMMERCIAL
OBSERVATION SATELLITES AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY 9 (M. Krepon et. al., eds., 1990)
Thereinafter Commercial Observation Satellite Capabilities].
The term resolution can have different meanings. For the purposes of this paper, resolution
corresponds to the size of the smallest discernible object in an image.
3 See Commercial Observation Satellite Capabilities, supra note 1.
4 In December 2000, Space Imaging, Inc.'s next-generation imaging satellite, capable of 0.5
meter resolution, was granted a license by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). Space Imaging, Inc. plans to launch the satellite in 2004. See V.
Loeb, U.S. is Relaxing Rules on Sale of Satellite Photos; After a Year-Long Policy Review, Far
Greater Detail Being Allowed, WASH. POST, Dec. 16, 2000, at A.3. See also J.C. Anselmo,
Commercial Spaces' Sharp New Image, 152:5 Av. WK. & SPACE TECH., Jan. 31, 2000, at 52
hereinafter Sharp New Image].
See W.J. Broad, Snooping's Not Just for Spies Any More, N. Y. TIMES, Apr. 23, 2000, at 4.6
Pereinafter Snooping's Not Just for Spies Any More].
Sharp New Image, supra note 4, at 54.
Commercial Remote Sensing from Outer Space-253](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/airfor50&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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U.S. National Security and Government Regulation of Commercial Remote Sensing from Outer Space
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