STATEMENT OF EDWARD MORRIS
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SPACE COMMERCIALIZATION
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC
ADMINISTRATION
HEARING ON
SPACE AND
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON STRATEGIC FORCES
JUNE 21, 2006
Good morning Chairman Everett, Mr.
Reyes, and Members of the Subcommittee. I
am delighted to be here on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, or NOAA, a bureau within the Department of Commerce, to discuss
the effects that
Space has always fascinated the American public and
demonstrated our technological prowess to the world, especially in the context
of national security. But over the
years, space has also become increasingly vital to our nation’s economic
interests, presenting lucrative business opportunities and enabling the
development of major infrastructures with practical uses here on Earth. In many cases, these activities have become
so routine, dependable, and convenient that it is easy for the public to forget
that space is involved. But the fact is
we would not have CNN, DirecTV
TM, XM Radio TM, OnStar TM, or Google Earth TM
if it were not for
For the purposes of this hearing, and recognizing the expert
testimony to be delivered by my fellow panelists, I will focus my remarks on
three key space activities affecting the
Space-Based
Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)
On
Much like the Internet, GPS has evolved from a gadget used by a select few to a critical information infrastructure that touches the lives of most Americans on a daily basis. Thanks to our nation’s longstanding policy to make GPS available free of direct user fees to civilians around the world, as well as our long track record of dependable service, tens of millions of users worldwide have embraced PNT technology. These users have integrated GPS into nearly every facet of society including public safety, transportation, finance, and manufacturing, to name a few.
GPS technology can now be found in everything from cars and airplanes to cell phones and wristwatches. GPS is improving productivity in areas as diverse as farming, mining, construction, surveying, taxicab operations, logistical supply chain management, and package delivery. GPS is enhancing public safety by preventing transportation accidents, helping parents keep track of their children, and reducing response times for ambulances, firefighters, and other emergency services. GPS is also furthering scientific aims such as weather forecasting, earthquake prediction, and environmental protection. Furthermore, the precise GPS time signal, derived from atomic clocks, is being applied to critical economic activities such as synchronizing communication networks, managing power grids, and authenticating electronic transactions.
Many sections of federal, state, and local governments rely upon GPS technology to fulfill their missions. Within the Department of Commerce, GPS helps NOAA navigate its vessels, enforce fisheries boundaries, improve local weather forecasts, and survey our nation’s coastlines and waterways. The National Institute of Standards and Technology uses GPS to communicate its time standard to customers in industry and to other national laboratories for inclusion in the international time standard. The Census Bureau uses GPS in field enumeration applications to improve efficiency and data quality. The list goes on and on.
The economic value of GPS is difficult to quantify because it is so pervasive and integrated into the fabric of the economy. Counting the total number of GPS users in the world is a challenge, because the technology is often embedded in other products, such as cell phones, and consumers do not even know they are using it. According to one private sector firm, global sales of GPS user equipment currently exceed $20 billion a year and will continue growing at a healthy rate for the foreseeable future.[1]
Equipment sales represent only the tip of the economic
iceberg. As with personal computers, the
true value of GPS is not in the cost of the equipment, but in the productivity and
growth it enables.
L2C is just the first of many new civilian upgrades the U.S.
Government making to the GPS constellation over the next decade. For example, the U.S. Government plans to add
a third civil GPS signal that will greatly enhance accuracy, availability, and
reliability, especially for safety-critical transportation applications. The aviation community is very interested in
the third signal because it will help improve both navigation safety and
airspace capacity. Having three signals
will also reduce downtime for any business operation that uses GPS where
signals are easily dropped, such as under trees. The
The second area I would like to address is commercial
space-based remote sensing, which is the collection of earth imagery from space
by private sector firms. Space-based
remote sensing is another technology that was originally developed for national
security purposes, but eventually released for commercial exploitation in the
1990s due to its economic potential. On
Under
the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, as amended, the Secretary of Commerce
is responsible for licensing all
As with GPS, commercial satellite imagery has a multitude of ground-based applications spanning many sectors of the nation’s economy. Farmers use it to monitor crops for blight and other problems and to deploy localized remedies when needed. Land use managers use it to assess and plan city growth. Insurance companies use before-and-after imagery to verify damage claims after floods, hurricanes, and other disasters. The media routinely adds satellite imagery to news reports to illustrate where important events have occurred. Software developers incorporate satellite imagery into flight simulators, games, and even wireless handheld devices.
Satellite imagery is most useful when combined with GPS, electronic maps, and localized data into a geographic information system (GIS). Perhaps the most popular example of this is the Google Earth TM application, which recently made commercial satellite imagery freely available to almost anyone on the planet via the Internet. Other examples include Microsoft’s Virtual Earth TM and Yahoo’s similar service. These mapping portals have brought satellite imagery “down to Earth” and have increased public awareness of space-based imagery across the globe.
Commercial satellite imagery also has significant impacts beyond the
economy. Remote sensing is a well known form
of reconnaissance, and the
In the area of disaster response and relief, the commercial
space-based remote sensing industry has played a vital role in recent years, collecting
tens of thousands of square miles of imagery for dissemination to aid workers
around the globe. Following the 2004
tsunami in Southeast Asia and the 2005 earthquake in
Total
sales for the entire commercial remote sensing industry, including both aerial
photography and satellite imagery, were estimated at $2.6 billion in 2003.[3] According to one leading industry analyst,
the space-based segment of that market is worth $300 million today and could
exceed $1 billion by 2012. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,
or NGA, will spend up to $500
million over five years on commercial imagery through the ClearView program,
which expedites bulk purchases of imagery from
Today,
GeoEye and DigitalGlobe are the two main companies leading the
As I
noted earlier, the real value of satellite imagery is unlocked when it is
combined with other value-added information into GIS. Quantifying this value in terms of the
productivity gained by GIS is difficult.
A leading provider of information technology market research stated that
overall GIS goods and services revenue totaled $1.84 billion in 2003 and
projected a 9.7% rise to $2.02 billion in 2004, but that includes many products
that did not incorporate commercial satellite imagery.[4] However, like GPS, sales numbers do not
include the productivity benefits realized by customers, only their GIS cost.
NOAA’s Space-Based Systems
Over 105 million
NOAA’s GOES are the mainstay of near-term weather and space weather forecasting, and ocean, climate and environmental hazards monitoring. During the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, GOES provided a continuous flow of imagery that helped NOAA forecasters track the storms and issue their forecasts. These accurate forecasts helped minimize the loss of life in the United States from three tropical storms and five hurricanes, four of which—Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma—were considered major hurricanes.
NOAA’s POES provide an uninterrupted flow of global environmental information to support long-term weather, oceanic, and space environmental modeling, as well as tropical storm analysis and forecasting, local weather forecasting, and ecosystem and climate monitoring. The global data from these satellites are used extensively in NOAA’s weather and climate prediction computer models. The data are distributed throughout the world through NOAA’s website, which saw a total of 206,814,261 hits and provided 6.03 terabytes of data during the week before Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
Future planned capabilities will provide increased observational capacity. These new satellites will provide significantly improved information to the user community, including television meteorologists, private weather companies, aviation and agriculture communities, and national and international government agencies.
Just
as the weather on Earth affects the economy, space weather can also create
problems that impact businesses, including utility companies, airlines, and
telecommunication systems. Space weather
includes solar flares, solar winds, and electromagnetic disturbances in the
atmosphere that can disrupt electronic and electrical systems on the ground, in
the air, and in space. NOAA’s Space Environment Center (SEC) utilizes space-based assets
including the GOES system to provide national and international warnings of space
weather events that can affect people and equipment. SEC operations are jointly staffed by NOAA
and the U.S. Air Force and provide forecasts and warnings of solar and
geomagnetic activity to users including energy
companies, the airline industry, the Department of Transportation, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and military and commercial space system
operators. Such
warnings are critical to the prevention of economic losses from power grid
outages, satellite failures, and other avoidable incidents.
Aircraft operating over polar routes are occasionally diverted to avoid the radiation and radio interference that is associated with solar storms and increased solar activity. Diverted polar flights can cost up to $100,000 each because of the additional fuel required. In the period 17-24 January 2005, United Airlines was forced to operate 26 of these less-than-optimum flights due to space weather.[5] Commercial communication satellites are also vulnerable to the effects of space weather. A geomagnetic storm in 1994 damaged two Canadian communication satellites, which were replaced at a cost of about $400 million. Additionally, in January 1997, a geomagnetic storm severely damaged the U.S. Telstar 401 communication satellite, which was valued at $200 million, and left it inoperable.[6]
NOAA’s
satellites also contribute significantly to an important international search
and rescue system known as COSPAS-SARSAT.
The satellite system receives distress radio beacons, which transmit
signals via satellite during an emergency.
Since the system became operational in 1982, almost 18,000 lives have
been saved worldwide, including more than 5,100 lives in the
To address the growing requirements for environmental data
on national and global scales, NOAA, NASA, and the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP) are leading the implementation of the Strategic Plan for the US Integrated Earth
Observing System, through the U.S. Group on Earth Observations
(USGEO). The U.S. Integrated Earth
Observation System is an essential component of the Global Earth Observation
System of Systems, or GEOSS, which is a global Earth data collection and
dissemination initiative to benefit worldwide stakeholders and
decision-makers. GEOSS will allow users
to share, compare and analyze a diverse array of datasets, providing the
information necessary to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards. GEOSS will provide the global information
required to understand the interactions between Earth processes and, thereby,
improve the forecasting skills of a wide range of natural phenomena, such as a
hurricane in the
The weather on Earth has direct impacts on the economy, and one of the most critical functions of NOAA satellites is to support the nation’s weather and climate enterprise. Data from NOAA satellites complement other observations, which are essential to ensure NOAA’s sophisticated computer models use the most current information. These computer models simulate future weather, ocean, and climate conditions. Weather and climate sensitive industries account for about one-third of our nation’s gross domestic product. The affected industries include finance, insurance, tourism and travel, real estate, retail and wholesale trade and manufacturing.[8]
Total
annual federal spending for weather information, including satellite data and
information, is about $25 per household (including aviation and defense, in
addition to NOAA). A detailed national
survey[9]
revealed the average value of all current weather forecast information from
public and private sectors is approximately $109 per household, with a total
national value of $11.4 billion per year. This survey also showed the annual value of
improving the daily forecast in terms of more accurate one-day and multi-day
forecasts, geographic detail, and frequency of updates is $16 per household, or
$1.73 billion per year. The average
value of weather forecast information relative to the total federal spending
produces an annual benefit-cost ratio of 4.4:1 to
In a typical hurricane season, NOAA’s forecasts, warnings,
and the associated emergency responses result in a $3 billion savings.[10] Two-thirds of this savings, $2 billion, is
attributed to the reduction in hurricane-related deaths, and one-third of this
savings, $1 billion, is attributed to a reduction in property-related damage
because of preparedness actions.10 Advances in
satellite information, data assimilation techniques, and more powerful
computers to run more sophisticated numerical models, have lead to more
accurate weather forecasts and warnings.
Today, NOAA’s five-day hurricane forecasts, which utilize satellite data, are as accurate as its three-day forecasts were 10 years ago. The additional advanced notice has a significant positive effect on many sectors of our economy. Accurate five-day forecasts for hurricanes can provide the time necessary for people to implement plans to secure their lives and businesses. Accurate five-day forecasts for hurricanes are important to the agricultural, fishing and energy industries, to name a few. For example, these forecasts can save the offshore oil and gas industry significant amounts of money by helping determine if and when operational systems should be taken off-line. Estimates indicate that the value of existing 48-hour hurricane forecast information to oil and gas producers averaged roughly $8 million per year during the 1990s.[11] These accurate forecasts can also help the fishing industry by providing enough time for fishermen to get their boats and equipment to a safe harbor.
Today, June 21st, marks the first day of summer and thousands of families from your states will begin their vacation adventures. Many of these families will use navigation systems in their cars to help them get to their destination – with the assistance of space-based systems. Many of these families will explore our national parks and wilderness areas – with the assistance of space-based systems. Many of these families will explore our oceans and coasts – with the assistance of space-based systems.
I want to thank you again for inviting me here today to discuss the economic value that space brings to our economy in the areas of space-based PNT, commercial remote sensing, and NOAA’s space-based systems. The future benefits of space to our economy are constrained only by American imagination and creativity. I am happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[1] Satellite Positioning Systems and Devices, ABIresearch, 2005.
[2] CRSL Industry Statistics, as reported by NOAA’s Commercial Remote Sensing Licensing Program.
[3] CRSL Industry Statistics, as reported by Space 2003: Exploring the Future of Space
Application, by OECD, 2004.
[4]
Daratech, Inc., Worldwide GIS Revenue
Forecast to Top $2.02 Billion in 2004, Up 9.7% Over 2003 (press release),
19 October 2004,
[5] INTEGRATING SPACE WEATHER AND METEOROLOGICAL PRODUCTS
FOR AVIATION Genene Fisher, Atmospheric Policy Program, American Meteorological
Society, Washington, D.C., 2003
[6] Green, Arthur W. and Brown, William, Reducing the Risk from Geomagnetic Hazards, USDOI and USGS Fact Sheet 177-97.
[7] Cospas-Sarsat Information Bulletin No. 18, February
2006, NOAA Press Release 2006-008, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
[8] Dutton, John A., Opportunities and priorities in a
new era for weather and climate services, Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society, September 2002, volume 83, no. 9, pp 1303-1311.
[9] Lazo, J. and Chestnut, L., Economic Value of Current and Improved Weather Forecasts in the U.S. Household Sector, report prepared for NOAA’s Chief Economist by Stratus Consulting, Boulder, CO, November 2002.
[10]
Willoughby, Hugh. Costs and Benefits of Hurricane Forecasts,
minutes of the 55th Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference, 5-9
March 2001,
[11] Considine, Timothy J., Christopher Jablonowski, Barry Posner, and Craig H. Bishop, The Value Hurricane Forecasts to Oil and Gas Producer in the Gulf of Mexico, Journal of Applied Meteorology: Vol. 43, No. 9, pp. 1270-1281.