large parts of the globe and their products are readily 

 available. Coupled with limited ground surveys, this 

 technology can be used for locating and assessing 

 natural resources, assessing weather and crop patterns, 

 and mapping the topography of inaccessible areas. 



Although the technology embodied in these systems 

 is extremely complex, useful information can be 

 extracted even with quite simple equipment and 

 interpretation capabilities. The information generated 

 can help developing countries avert costly mistakes, 

 such as overuse or abuse of soil, water, and ground 

 cover; misplacement of roads; and faulty irrigation 

 planning. indigenous natural resources may be 

 discovered, and resettlement programs in frontier areas 

 may be facilitated. we recommend that the United 

 States offer greatly enhanced use of LANDSAT for these 

 and other development purposes, building on the 

 experimental programs in developing countries already 

 undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration (NASA) and AID. 



Communications satellites and broadcast satellites 

 are also proving their worth. The former might be used 

 to help establish links among research and development 

 institutes and the latter to contribute to education 

 and rural programming. 



The marginal costs of U.S. cooperation in the use 

 of satellite technology in developing countries would 

 ordinarily be relatively small on both sides, since the 

 costs of developing the requisite hardware and software 

 have already been largely committed by the United 

 States for its own purposes. Specifically, we 

 recommend that the United states declare its intent (1) 

 to continue the development of remote sensing 

 technology and to support international collaboration 

 in establishing and operating an efficient network of 

 receiving stations and ancillary services; (2) to 

 enlarge access to U.S. remote sensing imagery and 

 related data; and (3) to expand training and research 

 and development programs in developing countries, as 

 requested, to build capabilities for gathering and 

 interpreting satellite-generated data. 



We also recommend further experimentation with 

 educational and informational uses of broadcasting 

 satellites in interested developing countries as well 

 as feasibility studies for making greater use of 

 communications satellites for international information 

 exchange. Although some countries have expressed 

 concern that satellites are potentially intrusive, the 

 technology is available to minimize this problem, and 

 we believe that the interest already shown by 

 developing countries indicates that an offer of the 

 kind suggested would be welcomed. 



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