David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC                   August 7, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1730)

Lanee Cooksey
Stennis Space Center, MS
(Phone:  228/688-3341)

RELEASE:  98-148

PRODUCTS SELECTED FOR SECOND 
PHASE OF EARTH SCIENCE DATA PURCHASE 

     Five offers have been selected for continuation into the 
second phase of NASA's purchase of Earth science data products 
that help meet the agency's scientific requirements.

     "We are very pleased that the products we have chosen will 
provide NASA with valuable scientific data for our Earth sciences 
efforts," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for 
NASA's Office of Earth Sciences, Washington, DC.  "This purchase 
continues the multifaceted process of NASA working more 
aggressively with industry and other non-governmental 
organizations to advance scientific understanding of our Earth as 
a total environmental system."

     The U.S. Congress approved the plan to initiate the data 
purchase activity in the fiscal 1997 NASA budget.  The program is 
managed by the NASA Commercial Remote Sensing Program at Stennis 
Space Center, MS, the agency's lead center for fostering 
commercial applications of NASA Earth science data and related 
technology.

     A Phase I Request For Offers was made by NASA in May 1997 to 
provide unique simulated or prototype Earth science data products 
for science assessment and validation.  The Phase II information 
will be used by research teams within NASA's Earth Science 
enterprise, which manages the agency's portion of an 
internationally coordinated research effort to study the Earth's 
land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a global environmental 
system.

     "By purchasing data upon delivery from the private sector 
instead of developing, building and launching new satellites, NASA 
may be able to conduct and expand its scientific investigations at 
a much lower cost, while encouraging the growth of this economic 
area," Asrar said.

     Selected products were based on several criteria, including 
"best science value" to the government, and the degree to which 
the offered data met the business and performance characteristics 
of the solicitation, including scientific utility and data rights.  
The combined Phase I and Phase II data purchases are valued at 
approximately $50 million.

     The following companies were selected for the data purchase:

Earth Satellite Corporation
Rockville, MD
Product: Geo-CoverTM, georeferenced Landsat global data set

Positive Systems, Inc.
Whitefish, MT
Product: ADAR 5500, one-meter airborne imagery

AstroVision, Inc.
Stennis Space Center, MS 
Product:  High Temporal Resolution Geostationary Imagery

EarthWatch, Inc.
Longmont, CO
Product: Star-3I, three-meter airborne SAR imagery

Space Imaging EOSAT
Thornton, CO
Product: IKONOS Original, Master, Model one-meter spaceborne 
imagery

     Further information about these products and awards is 
available on the Internet at URL:

     http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/SSC/award.html

                          -end-