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NOAA Requires License For Photos of the Earth

Posted by timothy on from the agressive-product-placement dept.

Teancum writes "In an interesting show of the level of regulations private spacecraft designers have to go through, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has demanded that American participants of the Google Lunar X Prize obtain a license if their spacecraft are 'capable of actively or passively sensing the Earth's surface, including bodies of water, from space by making use of the properties of the electromagnetic waves emitted, reflected, or diffracted by the sensed objects.' What prompted NOAA to ask for this license came from a visit by the XPrize staff to the NOAA offices in Maryland. What is going to happen when 'space tourists' bring their private cameras along for the ride?"

4 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by jrwr00 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Um, Wow i didnt think you could copyright THE EARTH.. What next? The Moon!

    --
    WulframII - Free Online Mutiplayer 3D Tank Shooting Game
  2. Definition of 'land remote sensing' by ribit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Definition 5 from the regulations: "The term 'land remote sensing' means the collection of data which can be processed into imagery of surface features of the Earth from an unclassified satellite or satellites, other than an operational United States Government weather satellite." It appears to only apply to 'satellites'?

  3. Re:This is actually for real by baby_robots · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems like it would be hard to enforce jurisdiction in space when we don't even have jurisdiction 10 miles off our coastline.

  4. Re:Notice from NOAA to Lunar X Prize Participants by ryanisflyboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here is a link to the act itself:

    http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/landsat/15USCch82.html

    It looks like the purpose is to protect the commercial interests of private space companies. If all the sudden people are launching rockets and giving away the data for free, that hurts space commerce. The goal here, again, is commercial. They want to create a commercial space enterprise. So while that sector is growing Uncle Sam is going to protect it.

    Because they have a policy of being "nondiscriminatory" they have to either charge everyone, or charge no one.

    However, one could argue that if your goal is non-commercial this wouldn't apply to you.

    This policy probably had good intentions, but is now very out of date.