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PROJECT ARGO r . 

Interest in the "peaceful uses" 6f satellite photography dates from'1960, 

when imagery was obtained by the first successful reconnaissance satellite. 

Although designed for the purpose of acquiring military intelligence in' "denied" 

areas, the possible use of satellite photography for geoscience application 

was. quite obvious. Although security restrictions currently preclude its general 

release, it was clear that some investigations were necessary to determine the 

feasibility of using the .photography for nonmilitary applications. 

In recognition of this developing need, the Special Assistant to the 

. :rn~{iiq~Hl:t: fClr: SCiellC~ and Technology, Dr. D. F. Hornig, took action to begin 

a formal study of the classified photography by ,the civilian agencies,. With 

the approval of DCI and the Secretary of Defense, and in concert with the 

Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Commerce, the AID and NASA, a plan 

was developed and 'Project ARGd'began in July 1967 to "eva'luate the information 

content of. the existing photography as it. would apply to various physical 

resource surveys and to' determin~'whether it could be used to meet some current 

needs of the civilian agencies." The study was performed by a team of scientists 

and engineers nominated by the participating civilian 'agencies. The study was 

conducted utilizing satellite photography covering a large. area" o'f South America 

~".'"'' containing a wide variety of topography, vegetation and climatic conditions and 

satellite photography of Si~es within the United States where ground truth data 

. were available to permit forming judgements in regard to accura~~ a~d completeness. 

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The t'eam concluded the study in March 1968 and published a detailed four 

volume report that documented the analyses and opinions of these scientists 

and engineers. It was stressed that this report was not a comprehensive and 

,final conclusion on the use of existing space photography for civilian purposes 

.....;......-,.... but it presents the personal judgements of the carefully selected resource 

. experts Who ,studied the existing photography and evaluated it in terms of its 

information content and its usefulness to those agency needs with which they 

had experience. 

The report: documents the information capabilities and limitations of satellite 

photography for each of the categories or diSciplines listed below. Extracts 

-...o...--'s':lh--o--w-n-are r'epr-esentative of"the conclusions of the various ARGO investigators. 

Agriculture (Plants and Soils) None~of the current panchr()matic 

photogra~hy has sufficient information content to. be useful for.determing 

.plant disease or insect infestation, butfhat'sll"evaluated photography shows 

....l .. ,,;+.,.vegetative patterns and eland 'use features.. Caverage at. the appropriate time 

of the year can: show detailed patterns such;'as differences between standing 

crops and bare· fields. ' ., ; .' .., , 

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Agriculture (Crop and Land Use Measurements) The use of mathematical"" 

rectification makes it possible to obtain the required accuraci for crop 

aGl'eage meaSYl;'ement :ttl the tI, ~9. With th~ KH .. ] IH~J."tp, IiIHh@\j~h tu HIIlH@d 

area coverage limits its usefulness for the purpose. , 

Agriculture (Forestry) Distinguishing commercial from noncommercial 

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forest land is generally beyond the capabilities of all but the KH-7 photography, 

but that the separation of vegetative areas from nonvegetated areas can be 

accomplished even with the index photography. 

Agriculture (Limitations and New Development) Severe erosion is easily 

observed on the TK photography, but moderate and slight erosion is difficult 

to detect; the same ,situation is true for salinity. 

. . Map Products Maps at various scales are currently being compiled using 

the satellite photography, and planimetric and topographic maps prepared by the 

USGS, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management, etc., could be revised and 

updated with base materials provided by satellite photpgraphy. 

Geology The KH-4 panoramic and KH-7 strip photography provides good 

information for the geologic understanding of landforms, drainage ya~terns, 

anomalies, and physiography and would be useful if aircraft cove~~ge' were 

not available, or for worldwide examinations of special geological features 

such as fault systems. 

Hydrology Satellite photography can be used for broad water resources 

planning, for cartographic delineation of flood plains and for SOme aspects 

of detailed water resource development and conservation planning. It is pointed 

out, however, that space photography cannot' in all cases compete with aerial 

photography, if available, and cannot replace the need for field investigations 

for detailed water-resource development and conservation. 

Geography and Cultural Features Satellite phot_og;-aphy can be used for 

preliminary engineering surveys and route selection. The KR-4 panoramic 

photography is excellent for thematic mapping and provides good information 

for land use dynamics and determination of climatic' zones by inference. 

Oceanography and Hydrography I t is.!!£! practical to perform marine bio.1ogy 

and chemical oceanography studies with any of the current systems. Neither is it 

useful for marine geology studies, for measuring near shore of subsurface currents, 

for determining length and direction of wave propogation, or for subaur£ace 

topographic contouring .. ' The m.;.4 panoramic and KR-7strip can measure ice 

coverage and ice movement. " , 

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Regional Studies Six geoscienceoV'erlays. (drainage, engineering geology, 

vegetation, surficial materials, surface configurations and landforms, and 

climatology) were prepared for a 1.2 million square mile area from satellite 

photography that were, in many cases, superior in over-all detail to published 

.mAll leAle ,.oloaie 'mAp', USAf Opcn:Ational N"lv:f.aat10n Cl'ulrCI, arid National 

Intelligence Survey reports. 

Snow Coverage Measurement Present techniques are costly and timeconsuming; more accurate data are desireable for flood and water yield 

forecasting. By using satellite photography, it should be posv,ble to gather 

thi.s'Q~~qg4 inform9t~gn 9n ~ +spt4 and timely basis. 

Summary of Requirements 

Most ARGO investigators discussed how the timeliness and frequency of 

coverage affected its usefulness and expressed opinions which varied widely 

according to the particular application and interest: Some interests were 

served by exploiting the photography already on hand. Most required new 

coverage targeted for particular areas and at particular times. Many required 

repetitive coverage and timeliness. For example, the ge~grapher felt he could 

use the imagery presently on hand as a data base with which to compare future 

worldwide coverage for the study of' long term effe'cts. 

'The hydrologist can use existing photography for' delineating' flood plains, 

but wanted repetitive coverage six times annually for snow cover determination 

and flood forecasting, and on-demand coverage for flood damage surveys. All 

natural disaster evaluations require timely on-demand coverage, but the geologists 

can use one-time KH-4 coverage for the study of the world's fault system as an 

aid to the understanding of earthquake mechanisms. Th€ point was made that 

"agriculture is dynamic in that plant and soil conditions'are constantly 

changing." Crop acreage, yield estimates and estimates of stress would require 

scheduling of coverage during specific periods of the growing season. For 

forestry applications such as land use dynamics and timber depletion, annual 

coverage would be desired, but for forest inventories, coverage every five 

years would suffice. Oceanographic studies, such as those involving polar sea 

ice, may require only one time coverage for water balance studies but perhaps 

weekly coverage for optimum sea ice monitoring. 

It was the considered opinion of most ARGO team members that the most 

obvious value of space photography is- the advantage of a broad' synoptic view 

of a,region or country. Another advantage is the accuracy or yertical or 

near-vertical photography from space and the accurate comparative grey or 

color photographic tones that result from space photographs of very. large 

areas vs. the present standard mosaic which is a patchwork of individual 

pictures. The rapidity of coverage of an area by spacecraft systems gives 

. uniform photography under the same conditions of v~getation, season, etc. 

'Thus administrators and planners now can have the capability to examine and 

develop resources with the advantage of regional planning. In general, however, 

it was felt that TK photography obtained in color with a system optimized for 

earth resources purposes can be of much greater usefulness and every attempt 

should be made to obtain it. 

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Ln general, the team was not prepared to make categorical statements 

about the value, of various levels of resolution. Many of the investigators 

were impressed by the vast area synoptic· view provided by mosaics using the 

lQwfeliH)luttGIl lIldex Gamet'asand il:s valul'! as a basis for regional planning. 

for the identifieation ot areas ler which mere detailed iflt6~mAtteft m1Bh~ b~ 

desired. At the same time, most of the specific applications that were 

identified by the team made use of the higher resolution KH~4 and KH-7 systems 

(about 10 feet and 3 feet respectively). The investigators were generally 

reluctant to give up what they considered a major advantage of satellite 

photography--large area coverage. Although the KH-7 gave more ~etailed 

information because of its higher resolution, most team members considered 

the KH-4, ~ich is a panoramic camera with large area coverage, to be a 

better system,for their purpose. 

An interesting observation made by one team member was the recognition 

that the biggest problem would be the development of efficient procedures for 

reducing raw data to ~ usable form and to establish and maintain meaningful 

levels of information retrieval. This means knowing when to stop even though 

greater detail can be viewed. Otherwise one could be overwhelmed with a 

mass of unusable data. 

It was generally no ted_ that in order for TK photography to be most 

fully utilized by civilian agencies, it should be completely decla$sified. 

If this is not presently possible owing to national security needs, it would 

still be possible to use existing and future TK material to a limited extent 

in a classified facility.-

The report was based upon existing photography that was acquired from 

six camera types from four reconnaissance satellite systems (KH-4, KH-5, 

KH-7 KH-8l. The determination of the specific characteristics desired for 

ture systems was beyond the scope of this study and generally was not dealt 

with by the ARGO team members. . 

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