Special Landsat Edition of GEOG671 (Remote Sensing Instruments and Observations) to be Offered This Spring
In honor of the 40th Anniversary of the United States Landsat mission, GEOG671 will highlight the history and current status of the Landsat mission.
Post World War II, our defense agencies, several university research laboratories, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey pushed to place into orbit an earth observing satellite mission to monitor the Earth’s land areas. At first known as ERTS (Earth Resources Technology Satellite), it is now more commonly known as Landsat. In 1972, the first Landsat was launched, setting the standard for satellite land monitoring. To this date, there is still not another land observing mission that is as accomplished as Landsat. Drawing upon recently published book chapters, as well as a soon to be published scientific history of the Landsat mission “Landsat Legacy,” co-authored with colleagues at NASA Goddard, Dr. Sam Goward will explore how Landsat, from the beginning of the space age, set the standards for earth observations. This leadership is maintained today (despite the many complex political circumstances that have surrounded this from its origins). Students in this course will not only explore the science history of this mission, but also explore the technical details of this amazing mission through analyses of specific examples of Landsat observations which highlight the fact that effective scientific use of these land observations is still not easy, or obvious.