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How many times have you seen something like the following scenario in
a television show or movie, or read it in a novel? The heroes are racing
against the clock to stop the villains from setting off whatever doomsday
weapon they happen to have. In the tense mission-control center, the heroes’ computer expert taps a few keys on the keyboard, a spy satellite swings
into view, and suddenly the monitors fill up with crystal-clear images from
space of the villains’ remote hideout. The imagery’s crisp enough for the heroes to run some facial recognition software and pick out the international
arms dealer selling the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), as well as
read the license plates of the nearby cars. Rest assured, the elite counterintelligence strike team will show up on cue to save the world, probably
watched via live remotely sensed satellite video feed by their teammates at
the home base.
Based on this fictional scenario, you might get the impression that remote
sensing satellites are magical things that can do anything—rotate into whatever orbital position is required to track people, zoom in (from outer space)
to make out the details of someone’s license plate, read lips from space, or
send live video feeds to the good guys in the field. Certainly, books and films
help perpetuate the idea that remote sensing (and anything using satellites) is
some sort of utopian technology that can do anything. The goal of this chapter
is to examine how satellite remote sensing is really done, as well as its uses
and limitations.
The first man-made satellite to achieve orbit around Earth was Sputnik, launched in 1957 by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR),
and it was quickly followed by the United States the following year with the
launch of Explorer I. These initial satellite launches established that satellites carrying equipment (or, in the case of Sputnik II, animals) could be
placed into orbit and utilized. As a result, NASA (the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration) was established in 1958 to head up the United
Images from Space
Satellite Remote Sensing, Satellite Orbits, Sensor Resolutions,
the Landsat Program, and High-Resolution Satellite Sensors
11
NASA the National
Aeronautics and
Space Administration,
established in 1958;
it is the United States
government’s space
exploration and
aerospace development
branch.
How many times have you seen something like the following scenario in
a television show or movie, or read it in a novel? The heroes are racing
against the clock to stop the villains from setting off whatever doomsday
weapon they happen to have. In the tense mission-control center, the heroes’ computer expert taps a few keys on the keyboard, a spy satellite swings
into view, and suddenly the monitors fill up with crystal-clear images from
space of the villains’ remote hideout. The imagery’s crisp enough for the heroes to run some facial recognition software and pick out the international
arms dealer selling the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), as well as
read the license plates of the nearby cars. Rest assured, the elite counterintelligence strike team will show up on cue to save the world, probably
watched via live remotely sensed satellite video feed by their teammates at
the home base.
Based on this fictional scenario, you might get the impression that remote
sensing satellites are magical things that can do anything—rotate into whatever orbital position is required to track people, zoom in (from outer space)
to make out the details of someone’s license plate, read lips from space, or
send live video feeds to the good guys in the field. Certainly, books and films
help perpetuate the idea that remote sensing (and anything using satellites) is
some sort of utopian technology that can do anything. The goal of this chapter
is to examine how satellite remote sensing is really done, as well as its uses
and limitations.
The first man-made satellite to achieve orbit around Earth was Sputnik, launched in 1957 by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR),
and it was quickly followed by the United States the following year with the
launch of Explorer I. These initial satellite launches established that satellites carrying equipment (or, in the case of Sputnik II, animals) could be
placed into orbit and utilized. As a result, NASA (the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration) was established in 1958 to head up the United
Images from Space
Satellite Remote Sensing, Satellite Orbits, Sensor Resolutions,
the Landsat Program, and High-Resolution Satellite Sensors
11
NASA the National
Aeronautics and
Space Administration,
established in 1958;
it is the United States
government’s space
exploration and
aerospace development
branch.