Enterprising Eyes in the Sky

BY NICK SCHULZ

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T

he United States military keeps the nation

where they can access a treasure trove of high-

safe and protects American interests around

resolution photos taken from the sky.

the world. It also plays an important role

driving technological innovation, with enormously

The ubiquity and increasing utility of all this imagery

beneficial spillover effects for American consumers.

is easy to take for granted, just another example of

Perhaps the best illustration of this dynamic is the

images come from two private sector companies,

Internet. What started as a research project funded

GeoEye of Virginia and DigitalGlobe of Colorado.

by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

These companies were made possible in part thanks to

(DARPA), the Advanced Research Projects Agency

American military research and development needs.

Network (ARPANET) was the world’s first fully functioning packet

the wonders of the modern age. Yet many of these

The companies are the two designated providers of commercial satellite

switching network. Its advent laid the foundation for the World Wide Web and the commercial Internet that is revolutionizing commerce, media, business, and social life.

Nevertheless, other examples are worth studying

imagery to the United States

The microchip revolution that makes the iPhone and other mobile marvels possible can trace its roots to the U.S. space program and other military endeavors in the 1950s and 1960s.

for the serendipitous and advantageous innovations they enable and create. Consider the growing market for satellite imagery.

Images of the Earth taken from high in the sky are now widely available on the Internet.

For example, when a tsunami strikes the Pacific Ocean coastline, media outlets can now publish “before” and “after” images of a devastated region to let people grasp the extent of the damage and to let aid agencies know

government. Yet, it wasn’t always this way. Indeed, the history of U.S. government reliance on satellite imagery has evolved in interesting and surprising ways.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the federal government elected to create an agency that

would both develop and operate space reconnaissance systems. The systems under the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) would include satellites to collect imagery and for other intelligence purposes.

In the 1990s, Congress permitted private companies to get in on the satellite imaging business. This included big players such as Boeing and smaller companies such

where they should concentrate their relief efforts.

as Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Or consider how different it is for house hunters

In the 2000s, the playing field shifted as President

to look for a home today. They can check out neighborhoods via Bing or Google map platforms

George W. Bush issued Presidential Directive 27, a measure that pushed intelligence agencies to rely

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on commercial enterprises as much as possible, as

study current and potential installations in the Gulf of

opposed to heavy reliance on expensive government

Mexico. The images help them to see the conditions

satellites. Additonally in 2009, President Obama

surrounding installations and how those conditions

proposed a plan to procure satellite imagery from

evolve over time.

the private sector, with GeoEye and DigitalGlobe providing the bulk of commercial imagery for U.S.

Major insurance companies are also using satellite

intelligence services.

imagery in productive ways. The pictures give them

In addition to providing images to satisfy America’s

potential natural disasters, such as earthquakes or

military and intelligence needs, the companies are able

hurricanes. Transnational shipping enterprises use the

to create or satisfy new markets and emerging needs in

images in a similar way as they analyze global shipping

the private sector.

routes for potential trouble.

For example, big energy companies are increasingly

It’s not just the for-profit sector that is increasingly

using commercial satellite images and analysis to

finding value added in the use of commercial satellite

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a wide lens to help evaluate risks associated with

pictures. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Even the touchscreen technology that is the

that promote human rights procure pictures as a

hallmark of the iPhone experience was made

way of understanding refugee activity in the world’s

possible by University of Delaware researchers

hot spots. The images help them determine what

who were provided support from the CIA and the

governments and militant groups are doing that

National Science Foundation.

influences the migration patterns of people over broad regions.

To be sure, it took remarkable entrepreneurial genius

The commercial satellite industry is still in its relative

GPS, develop the business model that would support

infancy. New uses of images are being thought of every

the iPhone, and cultivate the marketing wizardry and

day. In this way, it tracks a pattern we’ve seen in other

supply chain marvels that can turn a product into

private sector industries that were birthed by American

a global phenomenon. Yet, it’s clear that American

military demands.

military needs and spending priorities were key drivers

Scholars at the Breakthrough Institute recently

in the private sector to commercialize the Internet and

of the early catalysts to innovation.

published a report titled Where Good Technologies Come

American innovation is the result of a complex

From: Case Studies in American Innovation. They found

ecosystem, one that comprises many great American

that “the history of American innovation shows that

institutions. These include our enviable research

an active partnership between the public and private

universities, strong military, cultural celebration of

sectors has been key to developing breakthrough

risk and entrepreneurship, advanced financial markets,

technologies, which have driven generations of

marketing savvy, embrace of globalization and trade,

economic prosperity.”

and productive and highly adaptive workforce.

Consider the über innovation of the 21st century – the

All of these institutions combine to make America’s

Apple iPhone. While Steve Jobs was rightly lionized

free enterprise system the most remarkable and

for his role in revolutionizing mobile computing and

awe-inspiring force for material advance and wealth

telephony, the U.S. military deserves some credit.

creation in the history of the world. Q

The microchip revolution that makes the iPhone and other mobile marvels possible can trace its roots to the U.S. space program and other military endeavors in the 1950s and 1960s. The GPS embedded in the

Nick Schulz is a National Chamber Foundation Scholar and a frequent contributor to the Business Horizons Quarterly. He is the co-

phone was made possible thanks to the military’s

author of From Poverty to Prosperity and

NAVSTAR satellite program.

the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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