The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Chapter Chapter 26 26 - - Unmanned Unmanned Exploration
Exploration
Federal and state governments find LANDSAT imagery particularly useful in the management of
coastal resources. Effects of the tides, the status of industrial and waste pollution entering coastal
waters and many other conditions are readily monitored. This allows corrective actions to be taken at
proper times.
Fresh water is essential to life, and the availability of fresh water has diminished over the years.
The problem lies in the fact that the demand for fresh water increases yearly with a higher standard of
living and an increasing population. LANDSATs have been used to discover new sources and amounts of
water. Its pictures of snowfall amounts provide specialists a measure of the fresh water that will result
when the snow melts. In turn, very accurate estimates can be made of how much water will be in
reservoirs before the dry seasons begin, how much will be available for growing crops, and so forth.
This allows planners to prepare for any water shortages that may develop in certain areas of the country.
Another well-known series of multi-spectrum imaging satellites is France’s SPOT system. SPOT 1
was the first in the series. It was very advanced for its time. This Earth resources mapping satellite
was launched in 1986 atop Arianne 1. It carried visible and infrared sensors capable of much finer
resolution than the comparable LANDSATs. This spurred better LANDSATs. The competition between
them has resulted inexceptionally good imaging products. Themore images they produce, the more uses
are found for them.
569
A single scene from
the Thematic Mapper
of LANDSAT 4
contains six times
more data than a
similar-sized area
from the first
LANDSATs. This
image is of the
Washington DC/
Baltimore, Maryland
area.