People, Places and Pixels: Remote Sensing in the Service of Society

What is the role of Earth remote sensing and other geospatial technologies in our society? Recent global events have brought into focus the role of geospatial science and technology such as remote sensing, GIS, GPS in assisting the professionals who are responsible for operations such as rescue and recovery of sites after a disaster or a terrorist act. This paper reviews the use of recent remote sensing products from satellites such as IKONOS in these efforts. Aerial and satellite imagery used in land mine detection has been evaluated and the results of this evaluation will be discussed. Synopsis of current and future ISS Earth Remote Sensing capabilities will be provided. The role of future missions in humanitarian use of remote sensing will be explored

Climate Change Adaptation Science Activities at NASA Johnson Space Center

The Johnson Space Center (JSC), located in the southeast metropolitan region of Houston, TX is the prime NASA center for human spaceflight operations and astronaut training, but it also houses the unique collection of returned extraterrestrial samples, including lunar samples from the Apollo missions. The Center's location adjacent to Clear Lake and the Clear Creek watershed, an estuary of Galveston Bay, puts it at direct annual risk from hurricanes, but also from a number of other climate-related hazards including drought, floods, sea level rise, heat waves, and high wind events all assigned Threat Levels of 2 or 3 in the most recent NASA Center Disaster/Risk Matrix produced by the Climate Adaptation Science Investigator Working Group. Based on prior CASI workshops at other NASA centers, it is recognized that JSC is highly vulnerable to climate-change related hazards and has a need for adaptation strategies. We will present an overview of prior CASI-related work at JSC, including publication of a climate change and adaptation informational data brochure, and a Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Risks Workshop that was held at JSC in early March 2012. Major outcomes of that workshop that form a basis for work going forward are 1) a realization that JSC is embedded in a regional environmental and social context, and that potential climate change effects and adaptation strategies will not, and should not, be constrained by the Center fence line; 2) a desire to coordinate data collection and adaptation planning activities with interested stakeholders to form a regional climate change adaptation center that could facilitate interaction with CASI; 3) recognition that there is a wide array of basic data (remotely sensed, in situ, GIS/mapping, and historical) available through JSC and other stakeholders, but this data is not yet centrally accessible for planning purposes

Land Surface Feature Delineation of Rural Central Java Region Using Data Enhancement Techniques Applied to Digitized Landsat MSS Data

The use of rotated and non-rotated principal component and vegetation (green biomass) indices to enhance original four band Landsat MSS data has a potential to improve delineation of surface features particularly in underdeveloped regions of the world which have a paucity of organized ground truth. It is vital to analyze and display Landsat data in forms which highlight features of interest most effectively especially in areas with limited or outdated surface data. Principal component and biomass ratio forms of Landsat data have proven to have the ability to identify selected land surface features better than using original Landsat data, consequently improving the potential for accurate surveying, mapping, or resource inventories of large area ecosystems of underdeveloped parts of the world. Research at the Indiana State University Remote Sensing Laboratory (ISURSL) has been conducted which applies transformed Landsat MSS data in principal component and biomass ratio formats for a synoptic rural survey in a central Java study area. The study area is comprised of a variety of features including complex lowland and upland crop ecosystems, dry crop ecosystems, numerous agricultural rural settlements, forest and grass cover of various types differentiated vertically along volcanic mountain slopes, edaphic zones, and water. The micro-level complexity of this environment coupled with very limited ground information makes Landsat analysis of this region very difficult particularly using the raw data. Utilizing Landsat data (Scene #106702145, 28 September 1972) in principal component and biomass ratio forms for supervised and unsupervised classification resulted in better delineation of agricultural soil features which were not clearly identified using original four channel data. It was also found that the vegetation indices led to better identification of vegetation cover when compared to original data. Also, the use of vegetation indices in combination with the principal component data is found useful in the overall land surface identification process. The utility of principal component and vegetation indices for data enhancement is thus, recommended for land surface feature identification and delineation in the underdeveloped regions of the world

Why Gujarat Needs Much Better Higher Education & Research to Succeed in Knowledge Economy & What We Can Do About It?

This white paper distills the deliberations on the role of higher education and research as a key enabler of a Knowledge based Society. In particular it discusses (a) the importance of higher quality PhDs for building a knowledge society, (b) the initiatives and progress in competing economies in higher education and research, (c) where Gujarat stands in comparison, and (d) some recommendations on what Gujarat can do to enable timely progress towards building a knowledge based society and economy. These deliberations were conducted in conjunction with the International Conference on \u27Reconnecting Gujarati Diaspora with its Homeland: Contribution to its Development with focus on Building a Knowledge Society

Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010

The Space Shuttle is an engineering marvel perhaps only exceeded by the station itself. The shuttle was based on the technology of the 1960s and early 1970s. It had to overcome significant challenges to make it reusable. Perhaps the greatest challenges were the main engines and the Thermal Protection System. The program has seen terrible tragedy in its 3 decades of operation, yet it has also seen marvelous success. One of the most notable successes is the Hubble Space Telescope, a program that would have been a failure without the shuttle's capability to rendezvous, capture, repair, as well as upgrade. Now Hubble is a shining example of success admired by people around the world. As the program comes to a close, it is important to capture the legacy of the shuttle for future generations. That is what "Wings In Orbit" does for space fans, students, engineers, and scientists. This book, written by the men and women who made the program possible, will serve as an excellent reference for building future space vehicles. We are proud to have played a small part in making it happen. Our journey to document the scientific and engineering accomplishments of this magnificent winged vehicle began with an audacious proposal: to capture the passion of those who devoted their energies to its success while answering the question "What are the most significant accomplishments?" of the longestoperating human spaceflight program in our nation s history. This is intended to be an honest, accurate, and easily understandable account of the research and innovation accomplished during the era

Wings In Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle

This Space Shuttle book project reviews Wings In Orbit-scientific and engineering legacies of the Space Shuttle. The contents include: 1) Magnificent Flying Machine-A Cathedral to Technology; 2) The Historical Legacy; 3) The Shuttle and its Operations; 4) Engineering Innovations; 5) Major Scientific Discoveries; 6) Social, Cultural, and Educational Legacies; 7) Commercial Aerospace Industries and Spin-offs; and 8) The Shuttle continuum, Role of Human Spaceflight

Three Conservation Applications of Astronaut Photographs of Earth: Tidal Flat Loss (Japan), Elephant Impacts on Vegetation (Botswana), and Seagrass and Mangrove Monitoring (Australia)

NASA photographs taken from low Earth orbit can provide information relevant to conservation biology. This data source is now more accessible due to improvements in digitizing technology, Internet file transfer, and availability of image processing software. We present three examples of conservation-related projects that benefited from using orbital photographs. (1) A time series of photographs from the Space Shuttle showing wetland conversion in Japan was used as a tool for communicating about the impacts of tidal flat loss. Real-time communication with astronauts about a newsworthy event resulted in acquiring current imagery. These images and the availability of other high resolution digital images from NASA provided timely public information on the observed changes. (2) A Space Shuttle photograph of Chobe National Park in Botswana was digitally classified and analyzed to identify the locations of elephant-impacted woodland. Field validation later confirmed that areas identified on the image showed evidence of elephant impacts. (3) A summary map from intensive field surveys of seagrasses in Shoalwater Bay, Australia was used as reference data for a supervised classification of a digitized photograph taken from orbit. The classification was able to distinguish seagrasses, sediments and mangroves with accuracy approximating that in studies using other satellite remote sensing data. Orbital photographs are in the public domain and the database of nearly 400,000 photographs from the late 1960s to the present is available at a single searchable location on the Internet. These photographs can be used by conservation biologists for general information about the landscape and in quantitative applications

My 25 Years with ‘Wings in Orbit’: Science Accomplishments of the Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle was a crown jewel in NASA’s human spaceflight program for over three decades. This spectacular flying machine served as a symbol of our nation’s prowess in science and technology, along with a demonstration of our “can do” attitude. The Space Shuttle program was a major leap forward in our quest for space exploration. It prepared us for our next steps with a fully operational International Space Station. It set the stage for journeys to destinations like Mars. This presentation will focus on the select science accomplishments from this cathedral to space technology.https://commons.und.edu/ss-colloquium/1068/thumbnail.jp