Earth observation has grown along with the history of flight and then of space exploration — from Montgolfier's first ride in a hot air balloon in 1783 to today's techniques for imaging from orbit. Today, spacecraft and aircraft provide imagery useful for predicting the weather, surveying terrain, monitoring crops and forests, planning cities, locating resources, and gathering intelligence. The image of the whole Earth from space, first photographed by Apollo 8 in 1968, though still brand new compared to 6,000 years of recorded human history, is now part of our collective consciousness. Our Earth imaging techniques are now developing in parallel with our growing awareness that many of our biggest challenges are global in nature and can only be addressed effectively through international cooperation.
In Earth Observation Magazine scientists and engineers explain how these evolving technologies and methods of remote sensing and photogrammetry work and how we are learning to use them to more effectively understand, predict, and react to a wide range of natural phenomena and to manage human-induced changes.
In this issue, NASA scientists describe the benefits for society of the agency's Earth-observing space systems. "NASA's goal in Earth science is to observe, understand, and model Earth," they write, "to discover how it is changing, to better predict change, and to understand the consequences for life on Earth." This article is the introduction to an exciting series of 12 articles that EOM will publish, two each month, over the next six months. They will cover in detail 12 "applications of national priority:" agricultural efficiency, air quality, aviation, carbon management, coastal management, disaster management, ecological forecasting, energy management, homeland security, invasive species, public health, and water management.
