Soviet Space Cooperation
Soviet Attitude Toward International Cooperation in Space *
* Prepared by Joseph G. Whelan, Senior Specialist in International Affairs, Senior Specialists Division, CRS.
SPACE COOPERATION: AN IMPERATIVE IN THE PRESENT
ERA
COMMITMENTS IN ACCORD
AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE FOR SPACE ACTIVITIES
SOVIET PARTICIPATION IN LANDSAT
DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF LANDSAT TECHNOLOGY
Soviet participation in U.S. remote sensing systems, such as Landsat, did not equal the extent of cooperation experienced in the Kosmos biosatellite project. But Soviet cooperation in remote sensing, however small, was, nonetheless, important: For it reflected an aspect of the Soviet attitude toward bilateral space cooperation with the United States, and, accordingly, it is worthy of note.
It is not the purpose here to explain the technicalities of the Landsat system in any great detail, but merely to sketch out its essentials so as to make the Soviet cooperative effort comprehensible. A full explanation can be found in the Congressional Research Service report, World-Wide Space Activities.25 Suffice it to say that the concept grew out of efforts first used in manned spaceflights to photograph Earth from space. New types of high altitude imagery with multispectral scanners were developed and tested using aircraft. This work led to the development of a new global data acquisitions system consisting of a multispectral scanner mounted on a satellite observation platform. This concept became known as Landsat. (26)
Landsat 1 was launched on July 23, 1972, followed by Landsat 2 on January 22, 1975 and Landsat 3 on March 5, 1978. Other Landsat satellites with improved capabilities are planned for the future. Also other systems were developed enlarging upon the Landsat concept and including Landsat in these systems, for example, LACIE, an acronym for Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment, and Agristars, meaning, Agriculture and Resources Inventory Surveys Through Aerospace Remote Sensing. (27)
Landsat is an Earth resources satellite with multidisciplinary application on a global scale.28 It made possible the study of Earth resources with the application of space technology in such widely diverse areas as: The search for mineral deposits and oil fields; the study of forestry resources and the location of forest fires; identification as to location of diseases of trees and agricultural crops; the taking of crop census; the study of snow fall, water resources, fisheries; mapping; and many other similar practical enterprises to be carried on from space. (29)
One area where Landsat imagery proved to be most valuable has been in agriculture. (30) Briefly, Landsat has made it possible to survey global agricultural resources on a continuing and frequent basis efficiently, effectively, and economically—a factor of great importance to the Third World. It is not surprising, therefore, that interest in the program for surveys and management of natural resources and other surface features increased considerably during the 1970's so that in 1977 Frutkin could refer to this universal growth of interest as "remarkable." Frutkin supported his appraisal with evidence that some 130 countries had purchased Landsat data from the U.S. Data Center in South Dakota where it is collected and stored. (31)
SOVIET PARTICIPATION IN LANDSAT SYSTEM
Soviet interest in Earth resources satellites
The Soviets were latecomers in the application of space to Earth resources, at least in the form of a Landsat-type program, and even then their system had limitations. Ordinarily, they collected Earth resources imagery from their manned spacecraft. And not until May 26, 1977 did they launch an Earth resources satellite. It transmitted data to "Priorda" ("Nature"), the Soviet Earth resources data processing center, and was recovered on June 8, 1977. (32)
Unlike Landsats which operate for years, returning data by radio, the Soviet Earth resources satellites, which are indistinguishable from military observation recoverable flights aside from the labeling, according to Sheldon, land with film after a 2-week staytime in space. (33) Delays in developing an Earth resources system and its limitations when developed seem to explain Soviet interest in participating in the U.S. Landsat program. The Soviets are experimenting with new systems in the Meteor 2 program, however.
Soviet-American agreement on remote sensing
The agreement of 1971 on Soviet-American space cooperation, formally endorsed at the May 1972 Summit Conference, established the basis for a subsequent specific agreement on remote sensing. Officials of NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences had under-taken discussions and reached agreement on a joint effort to identify vegetation, soils and land uses using ground truth and aerospace technology. (Dr. Fletcher explained the meaning of "ground truth": In this case it "is simply actual data, obtained from people walking around in their agricultural areas. This information helps us to calibrate our own estimates of Soviet wheat production in these areas.")34 According to Dr. Don Paarlberg, Director of Agricultural Economics, Department of Agriculture, the proposed cooperative effort, approved in 1976, called for "exchange of ground truth and remotely sensed data for the United States and Soviet sites, independent analysis of data for both sites, and full exchange of research results." USDA was to cooperate with NASA in this program. (35)
Examination of NASA authorization hearings from fiscal year 1976 through fiscal year 1981, in which official commentary and reporting on Landsat and LACIE were extensive, suggests that the cooperative arrangement for remote sensing was both satisfying and successful. The Soviets did, indeed, cooperate. As Frutkin reported on February 25, 1977:
The joint project for remote sensing of crops and vegetation at analogous U.S. and U.S.S.R. test sites has produced for us an exchange of Soviet "ground truth." This has given us the basis for calibrating Landsat data of Soviet wheat areas, thus contributing usefully to LACIE, our Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment. (36)
Dr. Fletcher explained that, "This information helps us to calibrate our own estimates of Soviet wheat production in these areas," he said, elaborating on the point of exchange: "They gave us ground truth from the Kursk area of the area of the Soviet Union, and, in exchange we provided them with comparable information from an agricultural area in South Dakota." (37)
Official appraisal of Soviet cooperation in LACIE was also favorable, though the Soviet Union was not bound by any agreement in this project.38 Nonetheless, the Soviets gave tacit support for LACIE. As Frutkin explained:
The Soviet Union is engaged in a bilateral remote sensing program with NASA involving the exchange of "ground truth" from agricultural areas in the U.S. and U.S.S.R. This exchange is contributing to the verification of satellite data for wheat crop prediction and therefore represents tacit Soviet support for our Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). (39)
In another instance Frutkin extended the "broader significance" of the Soviet role in the LACIE project. He pointed out that the Soviets were "fully aware" of the project and "in cooperating with us in this way, they are in effect assisting us to pursue the LACIE program." 40
ON THE VALUE OF REMOTE SENSING AND SOVIET COOPERATION
From the American perspective Soviet cooperation in remote sensing was valuable, particularly in carrying on the Landsat program and the more comprehensive LACIE program. The success of both programs and the techniques and procedures that were developed have enabled the United States, in the words of Dr. Anthony J. Calio, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space and Terrestrial Applications, "to forecast wheat production in foreign areas on a timely and objective basis." (41) The programs have also effectively served the needs of the Third World.42 With respect to the Soviet
Union, Calio cited as one of "the major technical accomplishments" of the programs the ability to achieve "acceptable accuracies" for wheat production in the U.S.S.R., though he cautioned, "the repeatability of these accuracies over a longer period of time has yet to be demonstrated." (43)
He gave the following comprehensive statement to the committee:
Over the last several years, most of the research and development effort addressing agriculture application needs has been focused to support the Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). The experiment, covering three crop-years, was completed this summer. On the whole, the project provided very fruitful results. LACIE met the "at harvest" accuracy goal of 90 percent for wheat production in the U.S. Southern Great Plains and did as well in the U.S.S.R. (Figure 5). We have previously given you the general results LACIE obtained for the U.S.S.R. We are now able to report that LACIE accurately diagnosed the spring wheat situation and predicted a serious production shortfall as early as August 1977. Chairman Brezhnev's shortfall announcement on November 4, 1977, confirmed the LACIE prediction, as did the U.S.S.R. production results published in early February 1978. (44)
Though the emphasis in this section has been on agriculture, Soviet-American agreements were reached in other areas of remote sensing. In February 1976, for example, Dr. Vincent E. McKelvey, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, reported on USGS's participation with NASA in a cooperative agreement with the Soviet Academy of Sciences in the exchange of remote sensing methods and information on surveys of oceans, vegetation, hydrologic, and geologic phenomena. The Survey's efforts focused on the geological and geomorphological fields. The program resulted in the interchange of 70 scientific papers and program documents dealing with geology. In an appraisal of the program, McKelvey stated that the Soviet contributions "have added to the strength of the U.S. views that large geological structures seen on the surface of the Earth in space images are economically and technically significant and that they are global in their occurrence." (45)
In 1980, Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus reported on another project using the worldwide availability of Landsat data "to accelerate the research and application of remote sensing technology to help meet critical world mineral and energy resource needs." The project included 30 resources specialists from government, industry and academia in the United States and 170 scientists from over 80 foreign countries including the Soviet Union. According to Andrus, "the project provides for technical report exchange, workshops, and guidance on future research efforts." (46)
Thus, while Soviet cooperation in remote sensing has not been extensive, still it stands as an important indicator of an official Soviet attitude toward bilateral space relations with the United States. It also suggests an important ingredient in the success of this particular aspect of the relationship; namely, the factor of reciprocity and the existence of shared interests as binding elements that contribute to success. (47)
References:
A. SOVIET SPACE PROGRAMS: 1976-80, SUPPORTING VEHICLES AND LAUNCH VEHICLES, POLITICAL GOALS AND PURPOSES, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE, ADMINISTRATION, RE-SOURCE BURDEN, FUTURE OUTLOOK PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF HON. BOB PACKWOOD, Chairman, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, UNITED STATES SENATE, Part 1, Dec. 1982.
21. House Committee on Science and Technology. Hearings, 1981 NASA Authorization, 1980, vol. 5, pp.3113-3114.
22. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1981, 1980, pt. 2, p. 1236.
23. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1981, 1980, pt. 2, p. 1055.
24. Gurovsky continued: As he journeys into outer space man becomes ever more conscious of his links with the Earth. No wonder cosmonauts are often described as 'sons of the earth.' The farther the cosmonauts penetrate into outer space, the more keenly will earthmen be conscious of belonging, as it were, to one great family on a spaceship in the Universe." (Is There a Limit to Manned Space Flight? New Times ( Moscow), No. 15, April 1980:15.)
25. See, Lani Hummel Raleigh, Specific International Applications Satellite Programs, in House Science and Technology Committee, World-Wide Space Activities, ch. 5, pp. 436-466.
26. Ibid., p. 436.
27. Ibid., p. 441. For an explanation of Agristars, see, House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1981 NASA Authorization, 1980, vol. 4, p. 1623.
28. Landsat 1 was originally known at the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS).
29. Sheldon, United States and Soviet Progress in Space, 1980, pp. 54-55.
30. For commentary on its value in agriculture, see. House Science and Technology Committee, World-Wide Space Activities, 1977, pp. 440-444.
31. House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1978 NASA Authorization, 1977, vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 71.
32. House Science and Technology Committee, World-Wide Space Activities, 1977, p. 453.
33. Sheldon, United States and Soviet Progress in Space, 1980, pp. 54-55, and Sheldon, Soviet Space Activities in 1977, p. 75. In a survey of Soviet space activity at this time, Aviation Week reported: "In a new earth resources emphasis, the Soviets recently established a center devoted to analysis of such data obtained from space. The Soviets have used normal reconnaissance spacecraft, a new Meteor weather spacecraft design and the Salyut space station to provide earth resources data." (New Designs Spur Soviet Space Activity. Aviation Week & Space Technology, vol. 108, Mar. 13, 1978:77.)
34. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978, 1977, pt. 2, p. 772.
35. For a complete explanation of the terms of the agreement, see statement of Paarlberg, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1977, pt. 2, p. 1407. For other commentary, see pp. 1403 and 1415.
36. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978, 1977, pt. 2, p. 815.
37. Ibid., pp. 772-773.
38. At field hearings at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex., Rep. Larry Winn, Jr. (R-Kans.) noted in a discussion of LACIE Russia's role in the program: " Russia probably would not object to you taking pictures over them in this case because it could be helpful to them." Dr. Kraft responded: "The United States has a cooperative agreement with Russia to exchange agricultural data." Mr. Charlesworth elaborated: But that cooperative agreement does not involve LACIE. It is a separate agreement that provides for the exchange of ground truth information between the two countries." To which Mr. Winn speculated: ' Then, they need this to know where they are, apparently." (House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1977 NASA Authorization, 1976, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 808.)
39. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978, 1977, pt. 2, p. 1286.
40. House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1978 NASA Authorization, 1977, vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 95.
41. House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1980 NASA Authorization, 1978, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 149.
42. Lani Hummel Raleigh, Analyst in Science and Technology, Congressional Research Service, wrote: "Because of its numerous advantages [and they are cited], Landsat technology has been used successfully in many of the developing nations—to inventory water resources in Iran, to track the desert locust in the Sahara, to map largely unknown regions of Brazil, to inventory forest land in Thailand, to search for iron ore in Egypt, and to determine land use and land capability in Tanzania." Further examples were cited on page 451 ff, in House Science and Technology Committee, World-Wide Space Activities, 1977, p. 544.
For an extensive commentary on the uses of remote sensing in the Third World, see the letter and enclosure by Dr. Frosch to Secretary of State Vance on May 10, 1979, in House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1981, NASA Authorization, 1979, vol. 1, pp. 543-553. Frosch notes in part: "In our discussions with members of your staff, satellite remote sensing, particularly the use of data from NASA's Landsat satellites, has repeatedly been mentioned as one area where the U.S. is already encouraging developing countries to share in the benefits of space technology. It is an area where promise for still further cooperation with developing countries exists" (p. 543).
43. House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1980 NASA Authorization, 1978, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 149.
44. Ibid., p. 149. In his testimony Dr. Calio cited some of the problems faced with Landsat and the need for more work. "But, in spite of all these difficulties, he said, "the program has been quite successful." And he gave the following example that he termed "typical": ". . . the August LACIE prediction for 1977 U.S.S.R. wheat production was around 90 million metric tons, while the Foreign Agricultural Service at that time was predicting a much greater production in wheat. As you know, we did not get even a forecast from the Soviet Union until about November, but when we got a final assessment in February 1978, it turned out to be somewhere around 91 million metric tons." Thus LACIE indicated earlier than harvest time "that we would have lower production from the U.S.S.R." (p. 197).
In an earlier appraisal of the success of LACIE's Phase III, NASA reported:
"The LACIE results for the U.S.S.R. in Phase III were very encouraging. This is particularly true when it is realized that the 1976-1977 crop year was the only year that LACIE made estimates for the whole country. Using the latest techniques developed and tested in the U.S. Great Plains, LACIE could have underestimated the final U.S.S.R. wheat production (January 28, 1978, Pravda) by 2 percent last July and 1 percent last October. Last August the FAS was overestimating the production by 14.1 percent. The November FAS estimate, after Chairman Brezhnev's November 4 announcement of a poor total grain harvest, was an underestimate of 2 percent.
"During 1977, the LACIE activity produced monthly estimates in the U.S.S.R. using the original LACIE procedure. Those results, while not as good as the 2 percent underestimate in August, were very acceptable. LACIE was making an overestimate of 6 percent using the data and techniques available for analysis in June.
"We feel that this one year of analysis shows the potential of improving early season wheat estimates in the U.S.S.R. using Landsat data." (House Science and Technology Committee, Hearings, 1979 NASA Authorization, 1977, vol. 1, pt. 3, p. 2801.)
For an appraisal of the Landsat series as "proving its worth," see, David F. Salisbury. New Space Satellite to Peer Down on World's Oceans. The Christian Science Monitor, June 20, 1978, p. 7.
45. Senate Aeronautical and Space Sciences Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1977, 1976, pt. 2, pp.1440-1441.
46. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1981, pt. 3, p. 1497. For a statement by Andrus on the importance of Landsat in China's search for minerals and fuels, see footnote 28, page 59.
For a commentary on the role of Landsat in the Nation's mapping program with respect to the search for new energy sources, see the interview with Mr. Rupert B. Southard, Jr., head of the National Mapping Division, U.S. Geological Survey, in Struck, Myron. Mapping the Road to New Energy Sources. The Washington Post, Oct. 19, 1981, p. A13. Struck wrote: "Technology has moved the 1,800-person agency [that is, the National Mapping Division] from the days of the lone surveyor working months on tracts of misbegotten land to cartographers reading data from Landsat satellite imagery, computer-enhanced photographic composites (called orthophotoquads) and high-altitude aerial photographs (useful for soil surveys, range management and urban planning)." "With the country's energy requirement being as acute as they are now," explained Southard, "we've been given new priorities to help find that energy."
47. For Soviet commentary on remote sensing, particularly from the legal point of view, see, Fyodorov, Y. The Use of Outer Space and Interests of Nations. International Affairs ( Moscow), No. 7, July 1978: 16-17, and Kolosov, Space and International Law, pp. 56-58. For an analysis of the problem from both perspectives, see, Jaksetic, Emilio. The Peaceful Uses of Outer Space: Soviet Views. American University Law Review, vol. 28, Summer 1979: 483-506. See also, foth, Robert C. U.S. Opposes Curbs on Space Photos: Soviet Bloc, Developing Nations Seek to Restrict Data. Los Angeles Times, Mar. 15, 1979, p. 21. For NASA's position on this matter see, statement of Frutkin, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1979, 1978, pt. 3, p. 937. Frutkin says in part: ". . . for a decade there have been serious questions raised as to the propriety of one nation's conducting such a [Landsat] program which involves overflight by its satellites of other nations' territories and the acquisition of data relating to that other country's natural resources. The basis on which we have avoided negative action in the United Nations toward such a program, and in fact, gained from the United Nations its endorsement of the program, is the availability of that data to the world." When asked if NASA experienced any objections to its approach to releasing Landsat data, Dr. Fletcher responded: "After almost 5 years of collecting global Landsat data and making it openly available (more than 130 countries have purchased it), there is no known case of protest relating to the dissemination of this data." (Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Hearings, NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978, 1977, pt. 2, p. 798.)
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