Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 
the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives. 
Subtitle VI—Earth Observations 
CHAPTER 601—LAND REMOTE SENSING POLICY 
SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL 
Sec. 
60101.
Definitions. 
SUBCHAPTER II—LANDSAT 
60111.
Landsat Program Management. 
60112.
Transfer of Landsat 6 program responsibilities. 
60113.
Data policy for Landsat 7. 
SUBCHAPTER III—LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SPACE SYSTEMS 
60121.
General licensing authority. 
60122.
Conditions for operation. 
60123.
Administrative authority of Secretary. 
60124.
Regulatory authority of Secretary. 
60125.
Agency activities. 
SUBCHAPTER IV—RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION 
60131.
Continued Federal research and development. 
60132.
Availability of federally gathered unenhanced data. 
60133.
Technology demonstration program. 
60134.
Preference for private sector land remote sensing system. 
SUBCHAPTER V—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
60141.
Nondiscriminatory data availability. 
60142.
Archiving of data. 
60143.
Nonreproduction. 
60144.
Reimbursement for assistance. 
60145.
Acquisition of equipment. 
60146.
Radio frequency allocation. 
60147.
Consultation. 
60148.
Enforcement. 
SUBCHAPTER VI—PROHIBITION OF COMMERCIALIZATION OF WEATHER 
SATELLITES 
60161.
Prohibition. 
60162.
Future considerations. 
SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL 
§ 60101. Definitions 
In this chapter: 
(1) COST OF FULFILLING USER REQUESTS.—The term ‘‘cost of ful-
filling user requests’’ means the incremental costs associated with pro-
viding 
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 specifi-
cally attributable to fulfilling user requests. 
(2) DATA CONTINUITY.—The term ‘‘data continuity’’ means the con-
tinued acquisition and availability of unenhanced data which are, from 
the point of view of the user— 
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100 
(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 re-
mote 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 Pro-
gram Management’’ means the integrated program management struc-
ture— 
(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 Ad-
ministration, the Department of Defense, and any other United 
States Government agencies the President designates as respon-
sible 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. 
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(8) LANDSAT 7.—The term ‘‘Landsat 7’’ means the follow-on sat-
ellite 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 pur-
poses’’ 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 provi-
sion 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 in-
volving the use of Landsat data for noncommercial purposes. 
SUBCHAPTER II—LANDSAT 
§ 60111. Landsat Program Management 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator and the Secretary of Defense 
shall be responsible for management of the Landsat program. Such respon-
sibility shall be carried out by establishing an integrated program manage-
ment structure for the Landsat system. 
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(b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The Administrator, the Secretary of Defense, 
and any other United States Government official the President designates 
as responsible for part of the Landsat program shall establish, through a 
management plan, the roles, responsibilities, and funding expectations for 
the Landsat program of the appropriate United States Government agen-
cies. The management plan shall— 
(1) specify that the fundamental goal of the Landsat Program Man-
agement is the continuity of unenhanced Landsat data through the ac-
quisition and operation of a Landsat 7 satellite as quickly as prac-
ticable which is, at a minimum, functionally equivalent to the Landsat 
6 satellite, with the addition of a tracking and data relay satellite com-
munications capability; 
(2) include a baseline funding profile that— 
(A) is mutually acceptable to the Administration and the De-
partment of Defense for the period covering the development and 
operation of Landsat 7; and 
(B) provides for total funding responsibility of the Administra-
tion and the Department of Defense, respectively, to be approxi-
mately equal to the funding responsibility of the other as spread 
across the development and operational life of Landsat 7; 
(3) specify that any improvements over the Landsat 6 functional 
equivalent capability for Landsat 7 will be funded by a specific spon-
soring agency or agencies, in a manner agreed to by the Landsat Pro-
gram Management, if the required funding exceeds the baseline funding 
profile required by paragraph (2), and that additional improvements 
will be sought only if the improvements will not jeopardize data con-
tinuity; and 
(4) provide for a technology demonstration program whose objective 
shall be the demonstration of advanced land remote sensing tech-
nologies that may potentially yield a system which is less expensive to 
build and operate, and more responsive to data users, than is the cur-
rent Landsat system. 
(c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Landsat Program Management shall be re-
sponsible for— 
(1) Landsat 7 procurement, launch, and operations; 
(2) ensuring that the operation of the Landsat system is responsive 
to the broad interests of the civilian, national security, commercial, and 
foreign users of the Landsat system; 
(3) ensuring that all unenhanced Landsat data remain unclassified 
and that, except as provided in subsections (a) and (b) of section 
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