When researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) published a study last year on its discovery of 11 new colonies of emperor penguins, they acknowledged an unusual source of assistance students at Stirling High School in Scotland. Inspired by a David Attenborough program on the plight of the iconic bird, the teens and their teacher used satellite mapping imagery from the European Space Agencys Copernicus Sentinel-2, developed an algorithm, and found traces of unknown and unconfirmed colonies. They then passed on their findings to the BAS.
The notion that schoolkids are as capable of accessing Earth Observation data as scientists and government ministers is an indication of how satellite technology has revolutionized scientific research across the globe, and especially of the environment.
Satellites change everything, says Nathalie Pettorelli, a senior research fellow at the Zoological Society of London and author of the book Satellite Remote Sensing and the Management of Natural Resources. Monitoring extraordinarily large territories, providing access through visibility to remote areas, and boosting transparency of countries environmental standards are some of the benefits she cites. They provide you with the opportunity to monitor the Earth globally and monitor aspects of biodiversity that were very much neglected before.
But its not just biodiversity that satellites are aiding. Ever since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) together with the United States Geological Survey launched the worlds first Landsat satellite in 1972, a continual stream of data on everything from deforestation to glacier retreat to weather patterns has been recorded and archived, providing an incredibly valuable picture of long-term change to scientists, land managers, policy-makers and many others. Today, a veritable constellation of satellites of all shapes and sizes, both public and private, constantly orbit and monitor whats happening on Earth, deepening and extending that pool of knowledge.
When you talk about NASA, many people know only about things like our Mars expedition, says Sachidananda Babu, who is in charge of its Sustainable Land Imaging Technology (SLI-T) program, but they dont realize how much effort we spend on preserving our own planet, Earth.
Over the decades since its first launch, Landsat and other civil satellites have proven useful to ecologists with their ability to monitor plant health, land cover and water, he says. For example, the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat measures evapotranspiration, and western states water management of the Colorado River depends heavily on this measurement.
Babu and his colleagues are now in the process of developing a new tool, which they hope to have ready soon, for identifying potential forest fires. The tool will take data from satellite measurements and calculate moisture index, he says, which can estimate the chances of forest or bush fires. Is fire due to lack of moisture? Or hot air thats in that area? So thats a very advanced thing thats going on right now.
This September will see the launch of Landsat 9, which is, says Babu, mostly identical to Landsat 8 in shape, size, and weight, and it uses the same hardware. But we refined it a little bit. By sending down 14-bit image data instead of 12-bit, he says, you have a more dynamic range of data, and that means you can see even smaller changes on the ground, which enhances the quality of the data.
As program manager of NASAs In-space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST), Babu also works in the relatively new field of CubeSats. A new, low-cost pathway to research, these can, he explains, provide trial runs for new technologies in space. So far, these have included compact instruments to measure evapotranspiration and radio occultation measurements that can measure root zone soil moisture.
CubeSats are the best way to try out whether that technology is really useful, he says. To do that, we put that one specific part of the technology on a satellite and fly it. We see if it works well, then we can infuse the technology into a bigger program.
Providing higher resolution imagery than civil satellites, the pint-sized CubeSat at anywhere from 10 to 240 square centimeters in size is also used for commercial and educational purposes, and for scientific research. Educational institutions and non-profits in the U.S. can send their CubeSats into space using rockets, belonging to NASA or private companies such as Virgin Orbit, SpaceX or Rocket Labs, the latter of which includes a Book My Launch tab on its webpage. They can also be launched directly from the International Space Station on a Cygnus orbiter.
More than a hundred CubeSats have already been selected and taken into space as part of NASAs Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) Missions, and Babu credits their success to fostering close working relationships with the principal investigators of the selected proposals. What we do is take personal interest and mentor the team, he says. Calibrated and traceable measurements are required for any impactful science measurements looking at minute changes.
But with such complex data and so much of it available, how can the people who need it make sense of it all? Enter initiatives like Digital Earth Africa (DEA), a unique platform that democratizes the capacity to process and analyze satellite data.
A successful pilot study involving five African countries proved that better use of Earth Observation data had significant benefits for decision making, national statistics, resource management and innovation on the African continent, says DEAs managing director Adam Lewis. DEA also created the Africabased leadership team that produced the vision, mission and principles the initiative, which is funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Australian government.
The platforms sources of information are the time series data produced by civil satellites, especially the Landsat series and Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 constellations. These are underexploited because the satellites have advanced so quickly that people are unable to keep up with the big data they produce, says Lewis. So there is immense untapped potential.
DEA is overcoming those difficulties by doing some of the heavy lifting for the data users, providing the data in an analysis-ready form, accessible in the cloud, and with the open data cube as a processing system what DEA calls decision-ready data.
What we are striving for with our approach is information that is close enough to a decision-makers problem that they can see how they can engage with the products, says Lewis. Telling a decision-maker that youve got satellite data can be pretty abstract for them. Its not their job to know how relevant that is. But if we can say we are mapping the surface water of Africa through time, how it has changed, and are updating it, then they can identify and link it into their decision-making process.
To use his example, observations that map surface water can show where water has been seen in the past, says Lewis. The fact that it hasnt been seen in certain places for 10 or 15 years doesnt mean its not going to come back and be there again. There are patterns, and we can use the patterns of the past to understand the future.
Founded just two years ago, DEA has, over the past year, made food security another priority by developing a crop map area product. We can produce the sort of information on crops that Earth observation can give, like, how green is the countryside? How green is it compared to a normal year? Is that an indicator of drought? Now, in a particular country or region, an agronomist or a company might say, thats an indication that farmers in this area should be planting at this point, or not planting. That, he adds, then gets communicated to those farmers in ways that make sense.
Platforms like DEA with its training material and mapping and analysis tools are already proving useful to ecosystem scientists. Wetlands can be monitored, says Lewis. Forest can be monitored. We can look at land degradation. All these things can be done.
At the moment, DEA is not using data from CubeSats because their data is not free and open, and they dont give universal and automatic daily coverage. But DEA is starting to explore how CubeSat data can nonetheless still be effectively used alongside that of other satellites. It is quite possible for a country to bring in high resolution data from a CubeSatand to use the data in conjunction with those lower-resolution earth observing satellites that the USGS and Copernicus run. It is a really interesting area.
For Pettorelli, it is nonetheless crucial that access to earth monitoring tools remains open and free. You can really see the boom in science as Landsat opened its archive for free, she points out.
Theres an important message behind that, which is, the more we show that this is transformational, the more it becomes really important to protect those resources so we can continue to do what we do on the long term and monitor, for example, the effectiveness of various actions. Because they not only give you access to remote places on the earth, they allow you to look at things over a long time, she says. So its hugely important to continue to protect that, for humanity as a whole.
Read this article:
How satellite mapping technology is revolutionizing the way we see Earth - Landscape News
- Industry coalition forms to protect GPS - POLITICO - Politico [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- 'The Expanse' Is the Best Sci Fi on TV - The Mary Sue [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- The Bare Minimum Number of Martian Settlers? 110 - Universe Today [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- How many humans are needed to start a colony on Mars? - CTV News [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- This Is How Many People You'd Need to Colonize Mars, According to Science - ScienceAlert [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- According to New Equations, a Mars Colony Would Need This Many People - Futurism [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2020]
- Space Outside, Sexism Inside: Mary Robinette Kowals The Relentless Moon - Den of Geek [Last Updated On: July 13th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 13th, 2020]
- Here are the three missions to Mars that are happening this month - CTV News [Last Updated On: July 13th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 13th, 2020]
- Bad weather may delay 1st UAE Mars mission on Japan rocket - CTV News [Last Updated On: July 13th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 13th, 2020]
- Alyssa Carson: The teenager on a mission to Mars - Siliconrepublic.com [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- TWITTER POLL: Arab world should invest in space exploration - Arab News [Last Updated On: July 27th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 27th, 2020]
- A haunted train, a comedy show and karaoke: Entertainment in Calgary this weekend - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- The Expanse Is Basically Game of Thrones in Space - but Better - CBR - Comic Book Resources [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- UK Space Agency hopes first woman on moon mission will make it key player - The Guardian [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Elon Musk getting a TV show that will reveal how he became genius space billionaire and Channing Tatum is - The Sun [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Huawei negotiating the sale of parts of Honor's smartphone business - comments - GSMArena.com [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Space 2069 - back to the Moon, to Mars and beyond - Room: The Space Journal - ROOM Space Journal [Last Updated On: October 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: October 20th, 2020]
- Warface Has Released The Swarm Season Intro The Game - Bleeding Cool News [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- How Our Technologies Are Shaping the Future We Live In - Programming Insider [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Visualizing the Human Impact on the Earth's Surface - Visual Capitalist [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- The first Thanksgiving night sky: What did the Pilgrims see when they looked up? - Space.com [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Doctor Who: Where the 'Time Lord Victorious' Title Comes From - CBR - Comic Book Resources [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Gee whiz! An uppity-alien tells us how to live. - Johnson City Press (subscription) [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Mitochondria may be responsible for astronauts' health woes - The Burn-In [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Two motorbike concepts for riding on the Moon and Mars - Domus [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Astronauts experience these key changes in space that could impact their health, new research shows - WAAY [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- SpaceX tests rocket that will 'SAVE humanity' by shuttling us to Mars - The Sun [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- The best space board games of 2020 - Space.com [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2020]
- Everything You Need to Know About the Mass Effect Timeline Before ME: Legendary Edition - GameRant [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- Trump will suffer from a mysterious disease, assassination attempt on Putin: Here are Bulgarian Blind Baba Vangas predictions for 2021 - OpIndia [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- The Midnight Sky Takes Us Into Spaceand a Bleak Near-Future - tor.com [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- This 27-course bundle can help you learn to code this new year for just $60 - The Next Web [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- On a planet where you cannot breathe, is living on Mars the best idea? - Florida Today [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- Elon Musk believes future Mars economy is going to be based on cryptocurrencies - Republic World [Last Updated On: December 30th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 30th, 2020]
- This Brown University graduate may be the first woman to land on moon - IBTimes India [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- Starlink: Elon Musks space internet comes to UK as SpaceX CEO says it will help get people to Mars - The Independent [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- 'The Expanse' exclusive: Naomi and Filip have a heated family chat in new clip from season 5, episode 7 - Space.com [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- 14 Mars facts weve only learned in recent years - ZME Science [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- Martian Music: NASA to Record Mars' Ambient Sound Through Perseverance Mission for First Time Ever | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather... [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- Humans could move to this floating asteroid belt colony in the next 15 years, astrophysicist says - Livescience.com [Last Updated On: January 19th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 19th, 2021]
- Mass Effect Timeline Explained: The Classic Trilogy's Story and Yes, Andromeda, Too - Collider.com [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- New kind of space station detected - Alton Telegraph [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Phosphine in Venus' clouds could be biosignature of life, rekindling idea of floating city - Daily Express [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Team Behind Space Probe Headed To Mars Includes Staff From CU Boulder - Yahoo News [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Mass Effect: 10 Things You Must Know About the Systems Alliance - TheGamer [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Humans could be living in a 'floating asteroid belt colony' in 15 years' time, scientist says - New Zealand Herald [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Elon Musk's plan to send one million people to Mars boosted with colonisation 'solution' - Daily Express [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Starships Will be Launching From These Oil Drilling Platforms Bought by SpaceX - Universe Today [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Humans could move to a floating asteroid belt colony within 15 years, top scientist suggests - pennlive.com [Last Updated On: January 29th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 29th, 2021]
- Opinion | Why Biden must pursue space diplomacy with Russia and China - Politico [Last Updated On: February 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2021]
- Newly Invented Fusion Rocket Thruster Concept Might be Our Ticket to Mars and Beyond! - Tech Times [Last Updated On: February 2nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2021]
- Jeff Bezos Renews Focus on Blue Origin, Which Has Been Slower to Launch - The New York Times [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- Attention foodies: $500,000 on offer if you find a way to feed astronauts [details] - IBTimes India [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- NASA and CSA Will Give $500,000 To The Best Idea of Food Production In Space - Science Times [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- "The Expanse" shows the dangers of treating extremism as a joke - Salon [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- Elon Musk opens up about Mars, Gamestop and Dogecoin | Heres everything he said - Republic World [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- How Elon Musk And A Mission To Mars Might Boost Internet Speeds In The Rural Midwest | netnebraska.org - NET Nebraska [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2021]
- College student with Lumberton ties starts company focused on removing oil from wildlife - The Robesonian [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- Mars is an example of something that's useless. There are others - Real Change News [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- A Spanish startup is offering trips to space in helium balloons as a cheaper alternative to SpaceX - Business Insider [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- Elon Musk, once again the world's richest person, is selling all his possessions so people know he's serious about colonizing Mars - Business Insider... [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- UAE's Hope probe beams back its first picture of Mars - New Atlas [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- The geopolitics of NASA's Perseverance mission to Mars - Quartz [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- 'Glitch in the Matrix' director on simulation theory - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- Were Still Dreaming of Mars and Martians - The Wall Street Journal [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- Why are there so many missions to Mars? - The Economist [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- Space Foundation Discovery Center hosts Mars Week as NASAs Perseverance rover set to land Thursday - FOX21News.com [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- The Quest to Live on Mars: Could Humans Really Survive? - Interesting Engineering [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- This is the first image taken by NASAs Perseverance Mars rover. Now the hunt for life begins. - MIT Technology Review [Last Updated On: February 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 21st, 2021]
- 100 artists find inspiration at Manship during the pandemic - Gloucester Daily Times [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Stromatolites Fossils of Earliest Life on Earth May Owe Their Very Existence to Viruses - SciTechDaily [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Mars landing 'essential' if we want to send humans to the Red Planet 'Robotic companions' - MSN UK [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Hitting the Books: How NASA survived the Reagan era 'Dark Ages' - Engadget [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- How will Nasa rover look for aliens on Mars? Cameras, helicopter and more revealed - The Sun [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Why Turkey's race to space is a good thing - TRT World [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Perseverance goes to Mars with equipment needed to gather new information - The Robesonian [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- The race to live on Mars - Conversations - ABC News [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Nasa to reveal stunning first footage of Mars Perseverance rover touching down on the Red Planet - The Sun [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Mars rover could answer questions here on Earth - The Union Leader [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2021] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2021]
- Nasa releases first recording of rover DRIVING on Mars but mystery noise leaves them baffled... - The Sun [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2021] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2021]