Question: (p. GS-45). IMAGE MAPPING The budget reduces photo mapping products by $500,000. Answer: Nearly all orthophotoquads are prepared cooperatively with approximately 50 percent of the funding being provided by States and other Federal agencies. Cooperators include land and natural resource planning and managing agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management for land and resource management; the Soil Conservation Service for soil classification; and the Forest Service for land and timber management. State governments also use these image products to aid in coastal area programs and local government planning and management activities. The California Office of Emergency Services and the Forest Service for example, use orthophotoquads to aid fire and rescue efforts. Question: Who would suffer from the reduction? Answer: The reduced level of orthophotoquad production potentially can impact each of the customer agencies. The Department of Agriculture, currently the largest single customer, requires about one-half of the total production, would to be the most severely impacted agency. Question: How will that be decided? Answer: Reductions will be prorated across all agreements except for high priority needs identified through close coordination with user agencies. ADVANCED CARTOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS Question: What is the breakdown of costs for advanced cartographic systems in fiscal year 1989? Answer: The FY 1989 dollar estimate for Advanced Cartographic Systems (ACS) is $17.7 million. Approximately $8.5 million is for purchase of equipment such as: data base machines, mono/stereo workstations, mass storage system, image processing systems, and film recorders. Approximately $7 million is scheduled for other services which includes: software development contracts, equipment maintenance, and systems engineering/ systems integration studies. The remaining $2.2 million includes personnel and administration. The funding for this program is taking advantage of the over $2 billion long-term modernization program undertaken by the Defense Mapping Agency. Question: When is it expected that procurement of these systems will be complete? Answer: The initial capital procurement program required to develop an Advanced Cartographic System within the USGS will be completed about FY 1993. Subsequently, the program will be sustained at a lower budget level for the purpose of system maintenance. EROS 1988? Question: What is the NOAA support for the EROS center in fiscal year Answer: The NOAA support for the EROS Data Center in FY 1988 is $5.2 million. Question: Are there any other reimbursable users of the facility? Answer: Yes, other reimbursable users include: Agency for International Development, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Energy, Soil Conservation Service, National Weather Service, and the Bureau of the Census. Question: If so, at what amount of support? Answer: In addition to NOAA support, the EROS Data Center will generate an estimated $1.7 million in USGS data sales and $1.8 million in reimbursements from other Federal agencies. Question: What is the expected level of support from NOAA and others in fiscal year 1989? Answer: As in FY 1987 and 1988, NOAA has not requested Landsat 4-5 operations funds for FY 1989. If Landsats 4 and 5 continue to operate, we anticipate NOAA would request supplemental funding to support Landsat 4-5 activities at the EROS Data Center as well as the 16-year archive of Landsat data that must be maintained (per Landsat Commercialization Act) for longterm global change and earth-science studies. Question: Your budget justification (p. GS-56) states that fiscal year 1989 fixed facility costs must be covered by reimbursable funds other than NOAA. Will they be? What is the level of fixed facility costs? Answer: EROS Data Center fixed facility costs are currently covered by Survey appropriated funds and reimbursable activities, including NOAA Landsat support. As NOAA reimbursements are reduced, the remaining support from Survey and other reimbursable activities will have to pay for a larger share of these fixed facility costs, which are estimated to be between $4-5 million in FY 1989. Question: Why is the USGS contribution to the facility being reduced by $1,000,000 (25%) in fiscal year 1989 in light of other reductions? (p. GS-56) Answer: The proposed decrease of $1,000,000 in the Data Production and Dissemination program was necessary because of overall budget reductions. This decrease is for the entire EROS subactivity and not just the EROS Data Center (EDC). The EROS Data Center also performs a number of activities which are supported with funds from other USGS programs including Geographic H Information System Research and Applications, Primary Mapping and Revision, Digital Cartography, Image Mapping, and Side-Looking Airborne Radar and other Government reimbursable sources. Question: What is the status of EOSAT? Answer: EOSAT signed a revised contract with the Department of Commerce on March 31, 1988, to restart the Landsat 6 program. EOSAT plans to build Landsat 6 and associated ground facilities in Lanham, Maryland, and launch Landsat 6 in June 1991. Question: When will EOSAT be able to take over functions now performed at the EROS facility? Answer: It has not yet been established as to when EOSAT will take over Landsat related functions currently performed at the EROS Data Center. This uncertainty is due to the fact that the amended NOAA-EOSAT contract does not contain provisions for EOSAT to assume these Landsat 4 and 5 related functions. However, as we now understand it, EOSAT plans to perform all Landsat 6 data processing and archiving and customer service functions at its own facility after Landsat 6 is launched, currently planned for June 1991. Question: What funding does EOSAT require from the government? Answer: Funding for Landsat 4 and 5 operations and Landsat 6 development is provided to EOSAT by NOAA. We understand that total Landsat 6 program costs are $256.5 million ($220 million for the space and ground segment construction and $36.5 million for the launch segment). EOSAT has agreed to invest $10.8 million of its own funds, so the net cost to the government will be approximately $245.7 million. Question: Is other competition making Landsat less viable? Answer: The French SPOT satellite has provided competition to the Landsat system over the two years of SPOT operation. However, because the spatial and spectral characteristics of the two systems are different, it has been demonstrated that the data are also compatible and have been analyzed together for certain purposes. There will probably be elements of competition as well as compatibility between Landsat data and data from other existing (Japanese MOS-I and Soviet Soyuz-Carta) and planned (Canadian Radarsat, European Space Agency ERS-I, and Indian IRS) satellite programs when they begin to provide data to users on a routine basis. An additional factor in making Landsat less viable has been the continued uncertainty about the future of the Landsat program. As a result of this uncertainty, the launch of Landsat 6 has been delayed almost 3 years from the original schedule. A significant data gap is expected to occur between the failure of Landsats 4 and 5 and the launch of Landsat 6. Question: When will it be necessary to launch other satellites? Answer: The United States should launch follow-on satellites in the Landsat series as soon as possible to minimize the data gap following the anticipated failure of Landsats 4 and 5 (both have exceeded their design lifetimes). Question: Is EOSAT currently capable of doing that? Answer: EOSAT has just signed a revised contract with the Department of Commerce for construction of Landsat 6 (a follow-on satellite for data continuity), and is stating that Landsat 6 will be launched in June 1991. EOSAT should achieve this target assuming the availability of adequate funding in future years. Question: What will it take to get additional satellites launched? Answer: To launch additional U.S. satellites beyond Landsat 6, it will take a consensus within the government about the goals of that program, and the appropriate mix of government and private industry support to implement the program. Three NOAA-funded contract studies (final reports are scheduled to be complete in the fall of 1988) are underway to evaluate the technical, financial, and program options for an advanced civil commercial earth-sensing satellite system that would follow Landsat 6. The results of these studies should help define the best approach that should be taken. Question: What improvements need to be made in the technology currently used in Landsat? Answer: EOSAT is making several technological improvements in Landsat 6, including the addition of a higher resolution (15-meter) panchromatic band, more thermal-infrared bands, and a wide-field instrument for sensing ocean color and sea-surface temperature. NOAA's advanced system contract studies will recommend other improvements for satellites beyond Landsat 6. Among the improvements being considered are higher spatial resolution, additional spectral sensitivity, and the use of solid-state sensor technology. Question: Will the Department of Defense allow high resolution images to be used? Answer: The President's national space policy, released in January 1988, removed the 10-meter spatial resolution limit on U.S. civil remote sensing satellites. This change in policy should allow U.S. civil satellites to acquire and distribute satellite data with higher spatial resolution. EOSAT is conducting a study to determine the market feasibility of a 5-meter, 3-band sensor for Landsat 6. Question: Are the USGS and other government agencies purchasing satellite photos from sources other than Landsat? Answer: Yes, the USGS and other government agencies are purchasing satellite data from other sources. Question: From Whom? Answer: The USGS and other Government agencies are regularly purchasing SPOT data. The USGS offers a brokerage service to other Federal agencies to facilitate their purchase of SPOT data. The USGS has informally obtained a few scenes of Japanese MOS-I satellite data and Soviet SoyuzCarta data for test and evaluation purposes. As far as we know, no U.S. Government agency has purchased Soyuz-Carta data directly from the Soviets. We understand that several government agencies have requested information about the availability of Soyuz-Carta data and intend to purchase data of test areas in the U.S. if terms and conditions for purchase are acceptable. Question: Why? Answer: In the case of SPOT data, its high spatial resolution (10 and 20 meters), frequent repeat coverage cycles, and stereo imaging capability provide data with characteristics that cannot be obtained from Landsat data. The USGS is conducting research to determine if SPOT data can be used to make satellite image maps, to revise USGS maps, and for geological interpretations. SPOT data and Landsat data are also being merged to take advantage of SPOT's higher spatial resolution and Landsat's unique midinfrared and thermal-infrared spectral bands. The USGS and other Federal agencies have obtained Japanese MOS-I and Soviet Soyuz-Carta data to investigate the data characteristics and to determine whether useful information can be extracted from such data. Question: Based on an April 8th letter from the Department, your study of the future of the EROS facility is not yet complete, but based on your work to date, what is the lowest level of funding, including reimbursable work, needed to keep the facility viable? Answer: Based on the preliminary findings of the study team, the funding level associated with a minimum practical level of operations at EDC is approximately $10 million. Below this funding level, the overhead on remaining activities becomes too large for a viable operation. Question: What general areas of work appear to be reasonable for the facility? Answer: The EROS Data Center (EDC) serves several functions in support of the USGS mission, including cataloging, archiving, distributing and generating products such as aerial photographs and non-Landsat satellite images, SLAR data, National Uranium Resources Evaluation (NURE) data, and digital cartographic data from the National Digital Cartographic Data Base (NDCDB). Program support from several agencies now appears to be the most reasonable approach for the EROS Data Center. Components of a multi-agency program would include the following: Data Management and research on data management Data production and distribution Spatial data analysis/Geographic Information System research and analysis Landsat data management (perhaps continued through EDC) |