The USGS is required by the Federal government to provide and archive remotely sensed data such as Landsat imagery. The National Space Policy of 2010 states that:“The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shall: conduct research on natural and human-induced changes to Earth’s land, land cover, and inland surface waters, and manage a global land surface data national archive and its distribution; and determine the operational requirements for collection, processing, archiving, and distribution of land surface data to the United States Government and other users…”
The USGS is required by the Federal government to provide and archive remotely sensed data such as Landsat imagery. The National Space Policy of 2010 (p. 12-13) states that:
“The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shall:
- Conduct research on natural and human-induced changes to Earth’s land, land cover, and inland surface waters, and manage a global land surface data national archive and its distribution;
- Determine the operational requirements for collection, processing, archiving, and distribution of land surface data to the United States Government and other users…”
The Landsat program has played a key role in meeting this policy requirement. However, the data are not mandated to be Landsat imagery and may come from other sources that meet the policy requirements and standards. In 2009, given a certain degree of uncertainty regarding the operational lifespans of Landsat satellites 5 and 7 and the length of time before the scheduled launch of Landsat 8, the USGS Land Remote Sensing (LRS) Program began purchasing SPOT imagery in order to ensure continuous data coverage over most of North America. In this case, SPOT was chosen as the most cost effective option available to the Landsat program. Between December 2009 and June 2013, SPOT data were acquired through a series of purchase orders; each order was completed by the USGS Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG). The total award amount for SPOT imagery varied from year to year. The cost and conditions for five acquisition installments for continuous coverage are as follows:
- Period covered: November 5, 2009 – through June 30, 2013
- Approximate number of scenes acquired: More than 256,000
- Total cost: $3.63M
- Per scene cost: $14 (nine SPOT scenes cover the area equivalent to one Landsat scene)
The USGS has not acquired SPOT data since June 30, 2013, as Landsat 8 was operational by that time. However, these purchases provide insight into the actual cost of a substitute product that could be bought in the absence of functioning Landsat satellites. These costs can be extrapolated for multi-year estimates. Additionally, it can be anticipated, based on economic theory, that without Landsat data availability, the increased demand for SPOT imagery would lead to an increase in the price of SPOT imagery.
Although SPOT has been identified as a data stream that could augment and perhaps partially mitigate a loss of Landsat data, several trade-offs exist in this scenario. For instance, SPOT data is acquired under various contracts, each one having a different set of rules and systems for keeping track of the data and its eligible users. Additional processing of the imagery is also necessary in order to provide data which is equivalent to the standard Landsat product now available. The management and processing of the SPOT data require time and costs that are not accrued with the Landsat program. Due to the difference in the swath dimensions, it would require approximately nine SPOT scenes to cover an area equivalent to a single Landsat scene. This has additional processing and time costs for users. Additionally, the bands on SPOT are not identical to that of Landsat. For example, SPOT does not have a thermal band, the presence of which on Landsat allows for extensive applications in water resources.
In fact, the majority of the case studies in this report focus on the benefits in water resources, most of which would not be possible without the presence of the thermal band on the satellite instrument. The cost of the SPOT imagery purchase reflects only the coverage of North America. If this data-acquisition plan was followed, the opportunities for benefits through the use of Landsat global coverage would no longer exist. Furthermore, the substitute data would be available to civilian Federal government, State government, local government, and Tribal users, and everyone partnering with those entities, leaving out the private sector and academic users and uses. This indicates that the benefits acquired by private, academic, and international entities from no-cost Landsat imagery would not exist. More so, SPOT data can be purchased more than once when purchases are made by different agencies or users. For example, Department of Defense, civilian Federal government, State government, and local government could all purchase SPOT data under different contracts, with constrained user access. This structure could result in the government paying the cost of imagery multiple times.
References:
National Space Policy of the United States of America, 2010: The White House, 14 p., accessed on April 21, 2013 at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-2….
The USGS is required by the Federal government to provide and archive remotely sensed data such as Landsat imagery. The National Space Policy of 2010 states that:“The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shall: conduct research on natural and human-induced changes to Earth’s land, land cover, and inland surface waters, and manage a global land surface data national archive and its distribution; and determine the operational requirements for collection, processing, archiving, and distribution of land surface data to the United States Government and other users…”
The USGS is required by the Federal government to provide and archive remotely sensed data such as Landsat imagery. The National Space Policy of 2010 (p. 12-13) states that:
“The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), shall:
- Conduct research on natural and human-induced changes to Earth’s land, land cover, and inland surface waters, and manage a global land surface data national archive and its distribution;
- Determine the operational requirements for collection, processing, archiving, and distribution of land surface data to the United States Government and other users…”
The Landsat program has played a key role in meeting this policy requirement. However, the data are not mandated to be Landsat imagery and may come from other sources that meet the policy requirements and standards. In 2009, given a certain degree of uncertainty regarding the operational lifespans of Landsat satellites 5 and 7 and the length of time before the scheduled launch of Landsat 8, the USGS Land Remote Sensing (LRS) Program began purchasing SPOT imagery in order to ensure continuous data coverage over most of North America. In this case, SPOT was chosen as the most cost effective option available to the Landsat program. Between December 2009 and June 2013, SPOT data were acquired through a series of purchase orders; each order was completed by the USGS Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG). The total award amount for SPOT imagery varied from year to year. The cost and conditions for five acquisition installments for continuous coverage are as follows:
- Period covered: November 5, 2009 – through June 30, 2013
- Approximate number of scenes acquired: More than 256,000
- Total cost: $3.63M
- Per scene cost: $14 (nine SPOT scenes cover the area equivalent to one Landsat scene)
The USGS has not acquired SPOT data since June 30, 2013, as Landsat 8 was operational by that time. However, these purchases provide insight into the actual cost of a substitute product that could be bought in the absence of functioning Landsat satellites. These costs can be extrapolated for multi-year estimates. Additionally, it can be anticipated, based on economic theory, that without Landsat data availability, the increased demand for SPOT imagery would lead to an increase in the price of SPOT imagery.
Although SPOT has been identified as a data stream that could augment and perhaps partially mitigate a loss of Landsat data, several trade-offs exist in this scenario. For instance, SPOT data is acquired under various contracts, each one having a different set of rules and systems for keeping track of the data and its eligible users. Additional processing of the imagery is also necessary in order to provide data which is equivalent to the standard Landsat product now available. The management and processing of the SPOT data require time and costs that are not accrued with the Landsat program. Due to the difference in the swath dimensions, it would require approximately nine SPOT scenes to cover an area equivalent to a single Landsat scene. This has additional processing and time costs for users. Additionally, the bands on SPOT are not identical to that of Landsat. For example, SPOT does not have a thermal band, the presence of which on Landsat allows for extensive applications in water resources.
In fact, the majority of the case studies in this report focus on the benefits in water resources, most of which would not be possible without the presence of the thermal band on the satellite instrument. The cost of the SPOT imagery purchase reflects only the coverage of North America. If this data-acquisition plan was followed, the opportunities for benefits through the use of Landsat global coverage would no longer exist. Furthermore, the substitute data would be available to civilian Federal government, State government, local government, and Tribal users, and everyone partnering with those entities, leaving out the private sector and academic users and uses. This indicates that the benefits acquired by private, academic, and international entities from no-cost Landsat imagery would not exist. More so, SPOT data can be purchased more than once when purchases are made by different agencies or users. For example, Department of Defense, civilian Federal government, State government, and local government could all purchase SPOT data under different contracts, with constrained user access. This structure could result in the government paying the cost of imagery multiple times.
References:
National Space Policy of the United States of America, 2010: The White House, 14 p., accessed on April 21, 2013 at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-2….