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 Nov. 15, 2002: Times have changed
since the days of Sputnik and Apollo. Back then, the only players
in the space game were the United States and the Soviet Union.
You had to be a superpower to deal in space.
Today, anyone can do it.
You can now buy stock in dozens of companies that offer space
services on the open market. Based in countries such as Japan,
Australia, and France, these companies will launch a payload
into orbit for you or, if you want to go into orbit yourself,
they'll reserve a seat for you on a futuristic "space
plane."
Above: Space planes like the one in
this artist's rendition may soon take lucky passengers for a
ride into space--for a price. Image copyright XCOR/Space
Adventures.
A viable space-tourism industry is, however, some years away.
Meanwhile, companies have been launching payloads commercially
for years--it's old news. The real cutting edge of space commercialization
today is on a third front called "remote sensing."
Orbiting remote sensing satellites gaze down at Earth using their
science-caliber sensors to document all kinds of important phenomena--for
example: urban sprawl, water pollution, and coastal erosion.
The data they gather have revolutionized the way earth-science
research is done, and they offer new perspectives to decision
makers facing global problems like deforestation and climate
change.
 Left: Believe
it or not, this image of the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto
Rico was taken from more than 400 miles up! Space Imaging's IKONOS
satellite snapped the 1-m resolution photo. Copyright Space
Imaging.
The job of building, launching, and operating these satellites
has traditionally fallen to government agencies such as NASA
and the European Space Agency. Now, however, NASA is helping
private companies get into the game.
"The Commercial Space Act of 1998 encouraged NASA to buy
remote sensing data from private companies whenever that data
would meet the agency's needs," says Vicki Zanoni, an engineer
at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi who leads the center's
efforts to understand the quality of commercial satellite data.
In other words, companies can enter the commercial remote sensing
market knowing that there are at least government customers to
vie for; it's mandated by law. The idea is to give the industry
a boost and thus advance this frontier of space commercialization.
But as in any open market, buyers will only purchase products
that meet their needs. When shopping for data, NASA must be able
to squeeze the tomatoes and thump the melons, so to speak. It
needs to be sure it isn't getting rotten data.
 "The government is purchasing
commercial data to potentially support global-change decisions,
intelligence decisions, and homeland-security decisions,"
Zanoni says. "So we want to make sure that the data we're
purchasing are accurate. And the best way to do that is for the
government to independently verify it."
Right: Large tarps are deployed by NASA's Stennis Space
Center to test the accuracy of commercial remote sensing satellites.
Wearing socks to be sure not to damage or mark the tarps, Stennis
workers use electric blowers to clear off debris. Image credit:
NASA.
That's why NASA is pooling its talents with the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)
to put commercial data to the test. Their collaboration is known
as the Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation Team, or "JACIE"
for short.
JACIE members test data in many ways. For example, when a
commercial satellite of interest passes over Stennis Space Center--the
NASA center that initiated and participates in JACIE--scientists
lay out very large, custom-made tarps in an open field. These
tarps reflect a specific, known amount of light, so looking at
them in the resulting satellite image tells scientists how accurately
the satellite measures reflected sunlight--an important variable
for climate science.
 Other tests involve placing
2.44 meter-wide "bulls-eye" targets in a grid pattern
in a field and using GPS to pinpoint their latitude and longitude
to within a few centimeters. These then show up in the satellite
images as reference points that scientists can use to check the
satellite's geopositional accuracy.
Left: Scientists place 2.44m-wide "geodetic"
targets like this one at precise locations in open fields to
help test the accuracy of commercial remote sensing satellites.
Image credit: NASA.
After the tests are performed, "we then can say with confidence
that our scientists can use the commercial data in the way they
intended to, or we can advise them on how best to use the data,"
Zanoni says.
That confidence, which is vital for doing credible scientific
research, assures that these government agencies will continue
turning to the fledgling commercial remote sensing industry for
their data needs. And that, in turn, takes the commercialization
of space "one giant leap" forward.
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