Commercial Remote Sensing
The Office of Space Commerce promotes U.S. commercial remote sensing satellite services by contributing to the development of government policies affecting the industry, voicing the industry’s interests within interagency policy discussions, and representing U.S. commercial interests in international negotiations.
Separately, NOAA’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office licenses the operation of U.S. commercial imaging satellites and manages the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES). Learn more
On October 5, 2017, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross attended the first meeting of the reconstituted National Space Council. As Chairman of the Council, Vice President Mike Pence called for a full review of the U.S. regulatory framework for commercial…
On November 25, President Obama signed the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act. The legislation renamed the Office of Space Commercialization to the Office of Space Commerce (its original designation) and added several functions. The new functions include promoting U.S.…
On May 13, 2014, the Departments of State and Commerce released a set of interim final rules that move many commercial satellites and related items from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List. This long awaited rule change…
DOC’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has released an assessment of the consumers of U.S. commercial electro-optical (EO) satellite imagery. The goal was to evaluate the current market behavior of these imagery consumers as well as providers of products,…
In January 2013, the major two U.S. commercial remote sensing satellite firms, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, completed their merger, retaining the DigitalGlobe name.
On April 27, Eve Douglas of the Office of Space Commercialization will speak at a Space Enterprise Council forum on “The Importance of Commercial Remote Sensing to Economic and National Security.” The Capitol Hill event is scheduled for 9:00-10:00 a.m.…
On August 6, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency awarded $7.3 billion in contracts to two U.S. commercial remote sensing firms in support of the EnhancedView program.
Today, President Obama issued a National Space Policy directive providing comprehensive guidance for all government activities in space, including the commercial, civil, and national security space sectors. The new policy leans farther forward in support of U.S. business interests than…
March 3-5, 2010 Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C. The Office of Space Commercialization partnered with the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) to organize this international symposium on satellite-based commercial remote sensing. Nearly 400 people from 17…
On August 24, 2009, NOAA granted a license to Northrop Grumman to operate a commercial remote sensing satellite with one-meter synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability. It is the first U.S. license approved for a commercial radar imaging satellite at that…