23/04/03

Satellite-image users fear private price hike

By: Tony Reichhardt

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<h1>Satellite-image users fear private price hike</h1>
<h4>By: Tony Reichhardt</h4>
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<p>Proposals to privatise the Landsat satellite system, which has photographed the Earth for 30 years, are being greeted with concern by many global-change researchers.</p>
<p>They fear that a lack of a commercial market for Landsat pictures could push up prices, as occurred when the service was taken out of public hands in the 1980s.</p>
<p>The current satellite — the seventh in the series — is operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey. A draft invitation for bids from private companies to run the system is expected from NASA in the next few weeks, with a formal version due by the end of the year.</p>
<p><a onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" target="_blank" href="http://www.nature.com/login/scidev_login.taf?ref=/nature/journal/v419/n6905/full/419328a_fs.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to <em>Nature</em> news story </a></p>
<p>Reference: <em>Nature</em> 419, 328 (2002)</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/satelliteimage-users-fear-private-price-hike/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Proposals to privatise the Landsat satellite system, which has photographed the Earth for 30 years, are being greeted with concern by many global-change researchers.

They fear that a lack of a commercial market for Landsat pictures could push up prices, as occurred when the service was taken out of public hands in the 1980s.

The current satellite — the seventh in the series — is operated by NASA and the US Geological Survey. A draft invitation for bids from private companies to run the system is expected from NASA in the next few weeks, with a formal version due by the end of the year.

Link to Nature news story

Reference: Nature 419, 328 (2002)