AIAA San Francisco Section Newsletter
January 1995

Remote Sensing: Finally Attaining Orbit
An Interview with Murray Felsher
by
Brenda Forman

	Whenever I want the very latest poop on satellite remote 
sensing - be it technology, policy or just whatever's hot 
that day - I pick up the phone and call Murray Felsher.  It's 
an enjoyable ritual.  The phone rings.  A voice barks, 
"Felsher!"  I bark back, "Forman!" and away we go in a 
vintage blend of expertise and hilarity.
	Felsher publishes the Washington Remote Sensing Letter, 
a semimonthly compendium of everything you might ever want to 
know about satellite remote sensing, its applications, its 
players and its prospects.  For almost 15 years, he's fought 
the policy battles, reported the policy bungles, chronicled 
the interagency buck-passing and sounded the alarm of 
steadily expanding foreign competition.  Now at long last - 
and almost against all odds - he sees the U.S. developing a 
genuine commercial remote sensing industry.
	There is sometimes just the smallest whiff of triumph 
about Murray Felsher those days.
	I called him recently after the Congress began rumbling 
about possibly forbidding sales of high-resolution remote 
sensing data to Saudi Arabia.  U.S. companies are investing 
hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial systems to tap 
the growing worldwide market for remote sensing data and 
products; thus, while any Congressionally-imposed market 
restrictions are disturbing enough in themselves, they are 
even more so if they should turn out to be the harbinger of 
further such moves in the future.
	To my surprise, Felsher didn't blame the Congress.  "As 
many things as you can blame on the Congress these days, this 
really isn't one of them," he said.  "The problem with remote 
sensing policy is the White House.  There's no coherent 
policy being established at that level.  There are maybe one 
or two very unimaginative people working space there, plus 
some others seconded from other agencies who come in with 
their own axes to grind and bring their turf battles with 
them."
	Ah, but there is hope, he believes.  "The private sector 
has effectively done and end run on the government," he 
declared.  "Several licenses have been issued to build 
systems to sell 1-3 meter resolution data.  If the 
bureaucracy doesn't strangle it with regulations or hobble it 
with turf battles, remote sensing is finally going to become 
a going commercial concern, particularly if we can gain 
access to the trove of archival data available in the CIA and 
other classified sources."
	Determined to add to the momentum he sees gathering 
force, Felsher is deeply involved theses days with a group of 
some dozen or more remote sensing organizations who are 
creating the North American Remote Sensing Industries 
Association  (or in the obligatory acronym, NARSIA).  He is 
excited about this undertaking and I could see why, because 
it represents a clear-cut sign that the remote sensing 
industry is finally becoming a genuine commercial 
undertaking.  Dutiful participation in government-sponsored 
advisory boards and task forces is fine as far as it goes.  
The trouble is that it doesn't go all that far if what you're 
trying to do is build a business.  By and large, the 
government neither understands nor cares overmuch about 
business concerns.  In any policy debate, politics always 
win.
	The creation of an industry association is therefore any 
industry's necessary step toward becoming an effective 
political player in Washington.  (Just leaf through the pages 
of the D.C. telephone directory and you will see literally 
hundreds of such organizations.)  NARSIA's imminent creation, 
therefore, signals the industry's realization that it must 
mobilize its resources in pursuit of common interests.
	NARSIA membership, says Felsher, will be open to 
"private organizations and individuals from North America 
with a stated commitment to satellite remote sensing 
activities, services, and products, including hardware and 
software."  The first general meeting will be in Dallas in 
late January 1995.  Felsher is hoping for maximum attendance.
	By the way, give yourself a treat and read Murray's new 
book, Working Alone (Berkley Books, $10).  If you've got the 
urge to go out on your own, the book is stuffed with first-
rate tips,  But even if independent consultancy is the 
furthest thing from your mind, you can read the book just for 
fun, too.  Frankly, I laughed myself silly more than once.  
There's the wicked tale of the crossword puzzle contest on 
the airplane, for example.  There's the delectable story of 
the ROTC deputy commander and the spotter-scope.  But my very 
favorite was the tale of the NASA file cabinet filled with 
used staples...