Commercial Earth-Imaging Satellites
Inducted In: 2011, Environmental and Resource Management
Geospatial technology using Earth-imaging satellites has reshaped our view of the world, improving national security, logistics and navigation, mapping, disease and natural disaster tracking and a myriad of other applications. Featuring highly accurate cameras on satellites positioned in orbit above the Earth, the commercial earth-imaging business grew out of Cold War military applications for reconnaissance missions that photographed classified military installations. Today, commercial satellite imagery providers, including Space Technology Hall of Fame® honorees DigitalGlobe, Inc. (now Maxar Technologies), and GeoEye, Inc., serve worldwide demand for measuring and monitoring the Earth for security, emergency response, environmental assessment, natural resources, real-estate and news purposes. Applications include agriculture, geology, forestry, biodiversity conservation, regional planning, education, intelligence, cartography, seismology and oceanography, including predicting and monitoring earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, droughts and pandemics.
Related Technologies
Sewage Treatment With Water Hyacinths
Inducted In: Environmental and Resource Management
For more than a decade, NASA's laboratories conducted research on the use of water hyacinths for treating and recycling wastewater for application in space colonies and long duration manned space flights of the future. Researchers discovered that water hyacinths thrive…
Fabric Roof Structures
Inducted In: Environmental and Resource Management
In the late 1960s, NASA's Johnson Space Center went searching for a lightweight, non-combustible fabric durable and strong enough to protect the astronauts in an alien, zero-gravity environment. One American company, Chemical Fabrics, a specialty weaver and coater, was already…
Heat Pipe Systems
Inducted In: Environmental and Resource Management
In the early days of NASA's space research, there was concern over problems of temperature control of non-rotating satellites. The side facing the sun would build up excessive heat, and the opposite side would become very cold, thus a serious…