51 U.S.C. § 60111 — Landsat Program Management

(a) Establishment. NASA's Administrator^* and the Secretary^* of Defense are jointly responsible for managing the Landsat program. They must carry out that responsibility by setting up one combined management structure for the Landsat system^*.

(b) Management Plan. The Administrator, the Secretary of Defense, and any other federal official the President names must create a management plan setting out the roles, responsibilities, and expected funding of each involved agency. The plan must: (1) say that the main goal is keeping unenhanced Landsat data flowing, by getting a Landsat 7^* satellite built and running as fast as possible — one that at least matches the Landsat 6 satellite's abilities, plus a tracking and data relay communications feature; (2) include a shared funding plan that (A) both NASA and the Defense Department agree to for developing and running Landsat 7, and (B) splits the total cost roughly equally between the two agencies over the satellite's development and operating life; (3) say that if Landsat 7 gets upgrades beyond matching Landsat 6, and those upgrades cost more than the agreed baseline funding, a specific sponsoring agency must fund them — and that further upgrades are only pursued if they won't threaten data continuity^*; and (4) set up a technology demonstration program aimed at showing off advanced land remote sensing^* technology that could eventually be cheaper to build and run, and more responsive to users, than the current Landsat system.

(c) Responsibilities. The Landsat Program Management^* must handle: (1) procuring, launching, and operating Landsat 7; (2) making sure the Landsat system serves the broad interests of civilian, national security, commercial, and foreign users; (3) making sure all unenhanced Landsat data stays unclassified and unrestricted, except as section 60146(a) and (b) allow; (4) making sure Landsat 7 collects data on high-priority locations needed for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (under the Global Change Research Act of 1990) and for national security users; (5) handling Landsat data duties required elsewhere in this chapter; (6) overseeing Landsat contracts made under the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992; (7) coordinating the technology demonstration program under section 60133; and (8) making sure copies of Landsat data reach the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive^*.

(d) Authority To Contract. Subject to available funding, and only under the existing contracting authority each participating agency already has, the Landsat Program Management may hire private companies for services like satellite operations and preparing data for use.

(e) Landsat Advisory Process. (1) The Landsat Program Management must seek impartial advice and comments on how the Landsat system is doing, using existing advisory committees or similar tools. That advice must come from people who represent (A) a wide range of scientific and operational views on land remote sensing data; (B) the full range of data users — government at every level, universities, nonprofits, value-added companies, agriculture, mining, and other industries, and the public; and (C) a broad mix of ages, sexes, and races. (2) Every two years, the Landsat Program Management must report to Congress. The report must include the public comments received, plus (i) the Program Management's response to those comments, (ii) data on how much the Landsat system's data is being used, broken down by category, and (iii) any recommendations for policy or program changes to make the Landsat system more useful.