The EROS (Earth Resources Observation Satellite) Program Of The Department Of The Interior

This paper was prepared for the 44th Annual Fall Meeting of the of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Denver, Colo., Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 1969. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal, provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. The EROS (Earth Resources Observation Satellite) Program of the Department of the Interior is a program to utilize data collected from aircraft and spacecraft for practical resources purposes. Using randomly practical resources purposes. Using randomly collected data from Apollo, Gemini and Mercury space flights, the U.S. Geological Survey has compiled photo mosaics that are map-like in quality of over 1,000,000 square miles of the earth's surface. Using these maps as bases, and the color "space" photos for interpretation, the Geological Survey scientists have prepared:a geologic terrain map of the prepared:a geologic terrain map of the southwest United States (essentially a soils-association map), anda land-use planning map of the same region, a tectonic map, and soon will complete a land-use map of the area. Of significance is the "ability" of space images to peer far beneath the waters of the ocean, thereby, holding promise for increasing the efficiency of resources studies of nearshore areas. Detailed performance specifications have been furnished to NASA, identifying the type of data that would be the greatest of utility to the Department of the Interior. These specifications have been incorporated into the design of the proposed Earth Resources Technology Satellite NASA expects to launch in late 1971 or early 1972. TEXT There is great need for new approaches to resources exploration and management. Technological growth and expanding population combine to create an almost insatiable appetite for raw materials, energy, and food. The production and consumption of these, in turn, production and consumption of these, in turn, places increasing stress on our environmenta places increasing stress on our environmenta stress now so severe as to seriously concern both government and the public. There are reasons to believe that these concerns are justified, for example, it is estimated that by the year 2000 much of the waters of our streams will be used to cool our needed energy plants. The effect of such masses of warm water on our environment may be beneficial or detrimental.