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REMOTE
SENSING IN YOUR WORLD
Nancy Bohac
Detecting Gas Leaks
A new, aerial-based service provided by ITT
Technologies Space Systems Division detects natural gas
leaks. In a field demonstration in Wyoming recently,
ITT’s Airborne Natural Gas LiDAR Emission (ANGEL)
technology successfully detected planned leaks along 7.5
miles of natural gas pipeline. Mounted to the front of an
airplane, the ANGEL system casts a rotating laser grid
over a pipeline from 1,000 feet in the air. This computer
controlled optical pointing and scanning system used in
conjunction with geospatial data, enables the ANGEL
service to capture data and map to within 10 foot (3
meter) accuracy. The ANGEL system can detect, quantify,
image, and map methane and ethane gas emissions. Data are
collected and analyzed in-flight and when emissions exceed
preset values, ground staff is immediately alerted.
GPS, Remote Sensing
Locate New Camps
Armed with his GPS unit, Geologist Alain Gachet, is
helping to accurately pinpoint where to dig wells in
Chad’s drought-prone eastern region. By piecing together
a patchwork of maps from topographic data provided by the
space shuttle and formerly unavailable radar images that
show up to 20 meters below the ground and entering this
information into his GPS, Gachet can determine exactly
where to dig a well that can support a refugee camp. Water
is a precious commodity in Chad where rainfalls can occur
months apart. The country is now home to 200,000 refugees
who have fled from the violent Darfur region of Sudan.
Gachet’s methods are becoming a trusted solution
as the six wells built under his directive proved
successful in hitting water. In fact, the U.N. has asked
him to map more of eastern Chad. As clean water becomes an
increasingly scarce commodity—consider that the U.N.
estimates that 1.1 billion people do not have access to
clean drinking water—this method may prove a useful
solution in other parts of the world.
Military Techniques Support
Hurricane Clean-Up
Some of the same techniques used to pinpoint
battlefield positions for military commanders are aiding
in hurricane recovery in Alabama and Florida. Aerial
photography and census information are in use by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineer Research and Development Center’s
(ERDC) Topographic Engineering Center (TED) to identify
homes capable of being salvaged with temporary roof
repairs. In the past, such analysis was done with
time-consuming ground surveys.
Infrared Images
Track Volcano
Infrared images of Mount Saint Helens taken by NASA
scientists showed signs of heat below the volcano’s
surface one day before its eruption on October 1. These
images may also provide information as to how it erupted.
An infrared imaging system flown aboard a small
Cessna Caravan aircraft collected the initial images,
which helped scientists predict the eruption. Members of
the Airborne Sensor Facility at ARC used the 50-channel
MODIS/ ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER) digital imaging
system. They hope to depict the thermal signatures on the
dome. MASTER is an airborne simulator instrument similar
to the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) high-resolution infrared imager carried
on NASA’s Terra Earth observation satellite. NASA will
post the pre and post eruption infrared images on the Web.
Mapping the Great Wall
China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage
will oversee aerial mapping of the country’s 4,500-mile
Great Wall. The
data will be used to assign different parts of the wall to
different jurisdictions for protection and maintenance.
The data, along with historical material, will be combined
into a new database of the Wall. One of the goals is to
document and research the oldest parts of the wall, which
lie in remote areas.
SpaceShipOne and Remote Sensing
With a second private space flight a week after the
first, SpaceShipOne (SS1) successfully touched the edge of
space and returned to Earth twice to win the Ansari X
Prize and $10 million. The project, funded by former
Microsoft executive Paul Allen, was the first in the
eight-year life of the prize to meet its criteria for a
win. The Space Review editor Jeff Foust noted that the
craft has implications for a number of commercial
possibilities: “I think the X Prize has been
instrumental in promoting commercial human suborbital
spaceflight. This opens up commercial markets that include
not just tourism but remote sensing, microgravity testing,
and down the road, fast package delivery and
point-to-point transportation.”
About the Author
Nancy Bohac has experience in journalism and the
remote sensing industry and is a contributing writer for
the magazine.
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