US Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1325 East West Highway - Station 4301, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-3283

R -- SPACE-BASED DATA COLLECTION AND LOCATION SYSTEMS USE! DUE 110196 POC Dane Clark, 301/457-5678 NOAA operates an environmental data collection system on its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and an environmental data collection and location system on its Polar- orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES). The data collection and location service on POES is provided through a cooperative program with the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French national space agency, wherein a French instrument, Argos, flies aboard U.S. spacecraft. The Argos Data Collection and Location System, managed by NOAA and CNES jointly, consists of: (1) instruments provided by CNES, which, as noted above, are flown aboard NOAA polar orbiting satellites, and are scheduled to also fly on Japanese and European polar-orbiting satellites starting in 1999 and 2002, respectively; (2) user platforms equipped with sensors and a transmitter terminal; (3) global data receipt and data processing centers. The GOES Data Collection System (DCS) consists of: (1) U.S. Government instruments on NOAA geostationary satellites; (2) user platforms; (3) data receipt and data dissemination systems. The GOES DCS is managed solely by NOAA. Both the GOES DCS and the Argos system are operated to support environmental applications, e.g. meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, ecology, and remote sensing of earth resources. In addition, the Argos system supports those applications which protect the environment, e.g. hazardous material tracking, fishing vessel tracking for treaty enforcement, animal tracking, and oil and gas pipeline monitoring to prevent leakage. The majority of users are government agencies and researchers. Much of the data collected by both the GOES DCS and the Argos system are provided to the World Meteorological Organization via the Global Telecommunications System for inclusion in the World Weather Watch Program. On October 2, 1981 NOAA published regulations at 15 CFR 911 (46 Fed.Reg. 48634) that made the extra capacity of the GOES DCS available to non-NOAA users. Such use of the GOES DCS by other government and private users to collect environmental data was contingent upon: 1) all required conditions for access to the GOES DCS being met, 2) NOAA, another Federal agency, or a state or local agency being interested in or having a requirement to collect such data; and 3) no alternative commercial service existing that could provide this service. No regulations have been published concerning the Argos system. However, in March 1992, NESDIS published a notice in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) noting that a small portion, i.e., less than 5 percent of the Argos system capacity could be used for non- environmental purposes. The CBD notice explained: ''Potential users interested in utilizing the Argos System for innovative experiments or demonstrations of non-environmental applications may request admission by submitting a program application. Programs admitted under this provision will normally be limited for periods not to exceed one year. However, program extensions may be requested.'' The impetus for encouraging non-environmental uses of the Argos system was the U.S. Commercial Space Guidelines of 1991 which encouraged government agencies to promote commercial entities access to excess U.S. space-based assets in order to encourage the growth of the emerging U.S. commercial space industry. This 5 percent non-environmental system use policy successfully allowed commercial developers access to an operational space-based system to help develop, but not implement, their nascent services. In light of the fact that a commercial industry is starting to emerge in precisely this area of data collection and location services (e.g., Mobile Space Services), as well as the U.S. Government's long-standing policy against competing with the private sector, NESDIS will no longer promote the use of the Argos system for commercial non-environmental applications. As new, private space-based data collection and location systems begin to evolve, NOAA is eager to explore new opportunities that will be consistent with NOAA's mission and user requirements and national policies supporting commercial development. To do this requires an active dialogue between both users and service providers. In order to launch such a dialogue, NOAA, in cooperation with the Department of Commerce Office of Air and Space Commercialization, will sponsor a public meeting on data collection and location system use policy. This public meeting will bring together current and planned space-based data collection and location service providers and users to present, discuss, and document pertinent information necessary to reevaluate and redefine overall government policy and practice. One possible outcome of this meeting may be the development of consolidated regulations concerning use of GOES DCS and Argos data collection systems. The meeting will be held at the NOAA Complex in Silver Spring, Maryland on December 12 and 13, 1996, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The first day of the meeting will focus on technical, informational presentations and exhibits by industry participants. The second day of the meeting will focus on the policy discussions. Parties interested in participating in the public meeting, particularly those that would like to give oral and/or written presentations or who would like to display materials in the exhibit room should contact Mr. Dane Clark by close of business, November 1, 1996. Due to time constraints, oral presentations may be limited. The exhibit area will be accessible on December 11, 1996, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for those participants who will be setting up exhibits. The meetings will be held at the United States Department of Commerce, NOAA Silver Spring Metro Campus Auditorium, 1301 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland. Parties interested in participating in the December 12 technical session, particularly service providers who would like to present current and future capabilities and display materials in the exhibit hall, and users who would like to present current and future requirements, should contact Mr. Clark by close of business November 1, 1996. Parties interested in participating in the December 13 policy session, particularly those that would like to give oral and/or written presentations, should also contact Mr. Clark by close of business November 1, 1996. Due to time constraints, oral presentations may be limited. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dane Clark, NOAA, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, Direct Services Division, Federal Building 4, Room 0160, 4401 Suitland Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746; (301) 457-5678, e-mail: satinfo@nesdis.noaa.gov. NOAA plans to provide further information about this meeting, and other Argos and GOES Data Collection System-related information, on the Public Meeting homepage, which can be accessed via http://www.nnic.noaa.gov/. (0276)

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