Geography 477: 24 August 2006 Pigeons to Payloads: Introducing Remote Sensing

Synoptic – Unified View of the Whole Repeatable – Observe Dynamic Processes Information Rich – Massive Inferential Power Geolocated & Spatially Complete

After 17 years of theoretical and experimental work, Goddard achieved the first successful flight of a liquid-fueled rocket on March 26, The rocket flew 184 feet in 2.5 seconds and landed in a cabbage patch on his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. Father of Modern Rocketry – Robert Goddard

Rough Sequence of Events – Space Imagery Rockets Satellites Space Studies Communications Weather Earth Science – Land, Atmosphere, Ocean Mapping & Surveying

Boston from a Tethered Balloon

Alfred Nobel obtained this rocket’s-eye view of a Swedish landscape

Post Quake San Francisco 1906 – Kites used to send camera aloft – George Lawrence

Scott Haefner’s Kite photo of SF Bay –

Sputnik 1 - The First Satellite – 4 October 1957

Laika on Sputnik II; 3 November 1957

Vanguard 1; 1958 First Solar Powered Earth Orbiting Satellite 6,431,8??,??? Miles so far. Oldest man made object in space Sputnik I Sputnik II Explorer (US) Vanguard I

Chronology of Sputnik/Vanguard/Explorer Events October 4, 1957 USSR: Sputnik 1 (83.6 kg) November 3 USSR: Sputnik 2 (508.3 kg), Dog Laika as passenger December 6 USA: Vanguard TV-3 explodes on launch pad January 31, 1958 USA: Explorer 1 (14 kg), first US satellite, discovers Van Allen radiation belts February 3 USSR: First try to launch Sputnik 3 fails February 5 USA: A second Vanguard try fails March 5 USA: Explorer 2 fails to orbit March 17 USA: Vanguard 1 (1.47 kg) successfully orbits, establishes the pear-shapedness of the Earth March 26 USA: Explorer 3 orbits, collects radiation and micrometeoroid data April 28 USA: Another Vanguard fails to orbit (third failure) May 15 USSR: Sputnik 3 (1,327 kg) orbits, carrying large array of scientific instruments, but tape recorder fails. May 27 USA Vanguard fails for the fourth time June 26 USA Vanguard fails for fifth time July 26 USA Explorer 4 orbits and maps Van Allen radiation belts August 24 USA Explorer 5 fails to orbit September 26 USA Vanguard fails for the sixth time

April 1960: TIROS (Television and Infrared Observational Satellite) – Nine additional TIROS satellites subsequently launched through August 1964: NIMBUS 1 – Meteorological satellites with 3-axis stabilization, allowed sensors to continuously point towards Earth. First sun-synchronous satellites. Six more Nimbus satellites subsequently launched through 1978 provided continuous coverage of the earth for the first time. Current NOAA polar orbiting satellites are daughters of Nimbus.

1972 – Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) Launched and christened Landsat - MSS

SPY STUFF CORONA, ARGON, LANYARD KH (keyhole) Cameras August about 145 Missions Resolutions progress from tens of feet to inches GAMBIT up to 6 inch resolution HEXAGON (18 Launched) KENNAN INDIGO-LACROSSE-VEGA MidAirRetrieval until 1976

CORONA

Francis Gary Powers – Shot down over USSR 1 May 1960

Other Leaks 1980 KH11 photos left behind during botched Iran Hostage Rescue Mission 1984 Accidental publication of KH9 data in congressional hearing

KH11 Soviet Ship Building Facility – Janes Defense Weekly 1984

mid-air retrieval

A failed mid-air retrieval – Genesis Solar Wind Mission – 8 September 2004

“The Blue Marble" Photo of Earth taken on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 45,000 kilometers or about 28,000 miles. [1]. It is one of the most widely distributed photographic images in existence. The image is one of the few to show a fully lit Earth, as the astronauts had the Sun behind them when they took the image. To the astronauts, Earth had the size and appearance of a child's glass marble.Earth7 December1972 Apollo 17kilometers [1]astronautsEarthmarble

Phytoplankton Bloom

Function of Earth Ecosystems