ABSTRACT
Space based imagery has been used by the United States (US) since the first successful 'Corona' programme mission, Discovery 14, returned its film payload on 18 August 1960. The advances in commercial space remote sensing systems, their increasing proliferation and the global access that characterizes commercial systems spoke to the need for government oversight. The challenge for governments is how to reconcile the need to safeguard national security and foreign policy interests of the state with the UN 'Principles Relating to Remote Sensing of the Earth from Space'. These principles, adopted by General Assembly in 1986, provide that all remote sensing should be done for benefit of all countries. The 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act opened the door to commercial operators. The licensing regime, administered by the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), allows the US Government to place limitations on the performance and operation of imaging systems and on the distribution of the resultant imagery.
