§ 60133 — Technology Demonstration Program

(a) As a fundamental component of a national land remote sensing strategy, the President shall establish, through appropriate United States Government agencies, a technology demonstration program. The goals of the program shall be to— (1) seek to launch advanced land remote sensing system components within 5 years after October 28, 1992; (2) demonstrate within such 5-year period advanced sensor capabilities suitable for use in the anticipated land remote sensing program; and (3) demonstrate within such 5-year period an advanced land remote sensing system design that could be less expensive to procure and operate than the Landsat system projected to be in operation through the year 2000, and that therefore holds greater potential for private sector investment and control. (b) In executing the technology demonstration program, the President shall seek to apply technologies associated with United States National Technical Means of intelligence gathering, to the extent that such technologies are appropriate for the technology demonstration and can be declassified for such purposes without causing adverse harm to United States national security interests. (c) To the greatest extent practicable, the technology demonstration program established under subsection (a) shall be designed to be responsive to the broad civilian, national security, commercial, and foreign policy needs of the United States. (d) The technology demonstration program under this section may be carried out in part with private sector funding. (e) The Landsat Program Management shall have a coordinating role in the technology demonstration program carried out under this section.