Detailed Photos of Earth May Go Commercial : Technology: Defense firms say there is an international market for satellite images. The CIA could also sell directly.

The most secret military capability of the last two decades--America’s systems to take detailed photographs of any place in the world from space--may be about ready to come in from the cold.

The Central Intelligence Agency is expected to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee today that it is getting ready to loosen restrictions that have prevented U.S. industry from developing commercial satellite imaging systems and selling the photos commercially.

Executives of major U.S. satellite and camera producers--including Lockheed, Martin Marietta and Litton Industries--will testify that a market potentially worth more than $1 billion will be lost if the government does not lift its current ban.

“The risk is that several foreign countries will capture a market that we would otherwise capture, because of our technological lead,” said James Frey, president of Litton Industries’ Itek Optical Systems in Lexington, Mass.

Frey, who is expected to testify today, said U.S. firms are seeking approval to develop commercial photo satellite systems that would show objects on the ground that are about one meter or more in size--detailed enough to show buildings, cars, trees and industrial facilities. Russia and France are also pursuing that market.

An international market for space-based photographs, however, would raise questions about who would have access to such intelligence and whether even more detailed photos in the future would impinge on individual privacy.

The CIA has sent mixed signals about whether it will grant that capability or something more limited, industry officials have said in interviews. In addition, the agency itself may be preparing to sell some of its own photos commercially, preempting the formation of a private industry.

A CIA spokesman said Tuesday that while the agency is ready to loosen its restrictions, the approval process has been subject to fits and starts. CIA Director R. James Woolsey was expected to testify today, but a lower-level official will make a public statement while more detailed testimony by Woolsey will occur in a closed session later in the day.

*

In addition, the industry wants CIA approval to sell complete satellite systems to potential commercial users in the United States and abroad, but the agency spokesman said the CIA is not even considering granting that approval.

John Pike, a space expert at the Federation of American Science, questions whether the enormous cost of developing the satellite system--hundreds of millions of dollars--could be supported by the commercial market. He also disputes that Russia or France is ready to take the market from the United States.

“The Russians are very far from having a customer service window for their photos,” Pike said.

Pike was among those who noted that commercial space photos raise serious privacy issues. But Frey said the issue of privacy has not come up, because a one-meter photo does not show individuals, let alone their faces.

The CIA and Defense Department are presumed to already have much greater capability to spy on foreign nations than what the industry is seeking to develop commercially.

Space experts estimate that the CIA has a system--known as the Keyhole--that can depict objects just a few inches in size and transmit live photos to receiving stations 24 hours a day.

That’s accurate enough to show weapons, doors, windows and people, though not their faces or numbers on license plates. The government capability can also take night photos, showing the movement of troops, for example.

The CIA has clearly signaled that it has no intention of allowing such detailed photos to reach the commercial market, as some experts have advocated. And Frey said the industry is not trying to push an open-skies policy.

The United States and France currently market satellite photos, known as terrestrial images, that depict objects as small as 10 meters and show the rough outlines of buildings and large geological structures.

These photos are useful for mineral exploration, agricultural forecasting and environmental studies but are of limited commercial value for mapping, military intelligence or general snooping.

The current market for images from both space and aircraft is roughly $150 million to $200 million, but the industry expects that to grow significantly over the next five years.

The market is expected to reach $1.5 billion to $2 billion in sales by the early 21st Century, but that does not include potential sales to foreign governments that do not have their own space imaging systems. The industry is currently trying to estimate the size of that market.

*

Frey said seven or eight countries are ready to buy hardware systems or photos from a system operated by a U.S. company. Such a business would be a watershed, essentially moving U.S. defense firms into providing intelligence to foreign nations.

Earlier this month, Litton’s Itek formed a joint venture with Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and GDE Systems of San Diego, a former unit of General Dynamics, to develop a space-based commercial photography system. It has called its system the Eyeglass.