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The Earth Observation Blog

Hello Earth!

With a slight change in the usual way of starting a new blog (the well-known ‘Hello World!’ post), I begin here my adventure into the exciting world of Earth Observation and Remote Sensing from Space. Most likely most of us won’t be as lucky as the Apollo 17 crew when they took the famous ‘Blue Marble’ picture in December of 1972, as they transited towards the Moon, but surely I believe each of us has at some point marvel at the beauty of Earth pictures from Space, from the dry Sahara dunes to the dense and rich Amazon rainforest .

Since the beginning of Earth Observation from Space with the TIROS satellite (Television and Infrared Observation Satellite), launched in April 1960, we have been observing the land, ocean, atmosphere and cryosphere from a large variety of remote sensing satellites. As the technology evolves we are able to observe more accurately, with better spatial resolution, with more precise spectral regions, and in less time than ever. We are addressing the problematic issues of climate change with more specific solutions that allow us to better understand globally the interacting processes that drive the health of the Earth.

Surely Climate Change is one of the major points that motivate the growth of Earth Observation, and I trust most of the people are aware of the reality of the shortage of resources at the moment. But I feel that we have the duty of providing something else in terms of turning the Earth Observation data into tangible things for the people so that they understand the real benefits of spending money into the space business. There are now many applications that we can think of, from food management to sustainable fishing, pollution monitoring to combat allergies or mosquito plagues trends. Even so, the number of imaginable applications for us with these data have no limit. Lots of Earth Observation data are out there, largely unused, and it’s our innovative mindset that needs to work out solutions for our daily problems.

And this is the starting point of this blog. Next is all about showing touches of interesting applications of Earth Observation from an informative point of view. Which data are available? How can we play with them? Which are the benefits for us? Can we create a business service out of one of these ideas?

Before starting out I want to share a short clip by Giacommo Sardelli about the International Space Station and the cooperation in Space exploration. I use to watch it from time to time since it gives me a good dosis of inspiration and motivation, the kind of levels that should be always at the top.

There is plenty of Space, the rest is imagination!