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now earth day is uh coming up here a

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little later this month

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and uh over the course of the month

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we've been taking an effort to highlight

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some of the ways that the international

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space station science program is adding

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to the body of knowledge about our

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planet that includes a number of

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different cameras that are pointed down

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at the planet many of them gathering

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very specific kinds of data

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one of them is an experimental camera

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system known as iserv and it recently

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finished its first year of operation

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payload developer and principal

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investigator is burgess howell at nasa's

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marshall space flight center and he

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joins us this morning from huntsville

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alabama

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burgess you described this as an

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experimental system

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well pat the um

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as an earth observing scientist we see

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iss as an interesting uh

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interesting platform for various methods

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of earth observation uh covering various

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portions of the electromagnetic spectrum

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we're interested in for instance visible

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and near infrared mid and far infrared

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and even microwave radiation

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as opposed to what

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most people may be familiar with in

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terms of nasa's efforts with earth

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observation the the the most commonly uh

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known would be like the a train

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satellites landsat e01 those guys

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um

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iss has a a very interesting orbit and

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it allows us to see things on the earth

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from different locations with different

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sun angles different view angles

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and allows us to be

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sort of a calibration and validation

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source for a variety of other

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instruments that nasa and other agencies

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have flying so

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pathfinder is a low-cost high return on

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investment means for us to develop the

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processes and procedures

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and to gain experience and expertise in

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earth observation from the international

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space station

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in order to pave the way for future and

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more capable instrumentation

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tell me where

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your

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the genesis of this for for you this

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specific kind of camera where'd that

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come from

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well let me give you a little background

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we are we're part of uh a project called

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severe and i'll inflict my bad spanish

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on you here for a second it's the

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systema reggio now the visualization

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which translated into english is the

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regional system for visualization and

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monitoring

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we utilize the existing assets or assets

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from other sources other agencies

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to provide science-based applications

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and tools that will assist

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those who might make environmental

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decisions primarily in the developing

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world

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we operate mostly in

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the global earth observation system of

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systems societal benefits area there are

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nine of those health energy water

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ecosystems agriculture et cetera and

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one of them in particular disasters

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looked like a place where we could

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provide some tangible and valuable

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results while accomplishing the the test

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bed goals that i mentioned before of

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gaining the expertise and experience to

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uh to

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to provide the information for for

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future instrumentation systems and and

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we are going to show some pictures here

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in a minute but before we do uh describe

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the the camera equipment that's in use

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for for iserv and just where on the

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station it's located

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yeah sure um well first we we operate in

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the in the destiny module that's the the

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science module there

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there is a

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high quality earth facing

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window about 20 inches in diameter

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through which we are able to to see the

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earth we're in a

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a payload

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observational research facility wharf

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it's essentially a a light safe box a

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some mounting provisions and some

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connections to the infrastructure their

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power and data connections so that we

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can hook up the hardware and the

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computers that are required to run the

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system and uh and look out through that

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window uh down at the earth and and make

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our observations and shooting through

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the system

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it is uh it is just about the best glass

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uh you can get it's uh it's it's

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beautiful it's it's extraordinarily high

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quality

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uh virtually distortion free and uh it

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suits our purposes very well as well as

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the suit the purposes of other

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instruments that come behind us here

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the system is is based on commercial

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office self hardware it's it's the two

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primary components are a commercial uh

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digital single lens reflex camera and a

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nine and a quarter inch aperture

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astronomical grade telescope

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again commercially obtained here in town

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we do have some modifications some

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physical modifications to the system

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that improve our position within wharf

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and they also help our pointing geometry

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make us better located with respect to

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the window so we can see a broader field

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of view there plus we have some some

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other

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custom mounting bits power and data

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connections things like that are the

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crew members on orbit taking these

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pictures or are you taking them from the

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ground

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no the the system is is entirely uh

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remotely controlled from our science

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operations center here at uh the

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national space science and technology

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center we're affiliated with marshall

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here in huntsville alabama

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it's driven by some custom software that

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was developed here at marshall and

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we have the option to

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operate it in real time by you know

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sitting there watching the earth go by

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underneath us and and pushing the

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buttons as necessary or we can run via a

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timed command system which is our

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primary method of operation that allows

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us to pre-plan our our shots we just

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tell the camera when

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the target of interest is coming by what

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time it needs to swing over into

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the the right position to to acquire the

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images the station goes over and it

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takes the images and and stores them on

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board for us we then do the down linking

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here at uh at marshall and do the basic

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command processing uh i'm sorry the data

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processing before we archive and

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distribute the data sets the crew

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actually don't have any involvement

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except for uh helping us

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with a few hiccups and and we have had a

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few as we've operated we had a

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fairly significant pointing problem uh

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back uh last summer and uh koichi wataka

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was one of the uh the fellows who helped

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us out earlier this year and in getting

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our system repaired and back up let's

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take a look at some of the pictures that

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you're getting you

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provided us with a little sampling and

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we'll put the first one up on the screen

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right now describe uh what we're seeing

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here the uh this is part of mongolia

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right yeah this is um this is the uh the

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south western edge of the shore

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of a lake called uts nour it's in

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mongolia it's very interesting from from

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our point of view remember we look at

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things from environmental

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decision-making point of view this is

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the center of a a very delicate and very

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area of biodiversity in in mongolia

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the the lake itself is interesting

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because it's indirect in other words

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there's there's a flow only into the

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lake there's no flow out the basin

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around it flows in

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um

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this uh

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causes a couple things number one uh and

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most importantly it increases the

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salinity of the lake the lake is about

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half as salty as as ocean water but it

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creates a

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a very diverse landscape around and you

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see in this in this image here a lot of

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these bright spots these are actually

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salt deposits as the as the lake recedes

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as it evaporates and it is evaporating

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away it's one of the reasons why we're

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we're interested in it we're looking at

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how the the region is changing by the

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evaporation of the lake but the assault

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deposits left behind there okay it's

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kind of interesting to look at sorry to

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interrupt i i'm jumped ahead uh on your

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list i put up this picture of the grand

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canyon because i found that to be really

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amazing

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can you describe what we're seeing in

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that picture

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sure um you know grand canyon it's one

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of the the great geological formations

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of the world and it's it's part of the

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continent's physical and cultural

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heritage and we were very happy to get

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this uh get this image of it back last

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spring

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what you see here is is a shot that's

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very near the uh the grand canyon

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village it's unfortunately just out of

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frame lower left but at the very bottom

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i think you may be able to see there the

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parallel paths of the uh the rim highway

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and the uh and the train that that go

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into the um into the uh the grand canyon

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village uh of course through the center

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there is uh the grand can is the uh is

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the colorado river that uh

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that is responsible for carving the uh

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the landscape through the grand canyon

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there and it's uh

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uh

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it's a fascinating piece of geology i

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have a little bit of geology background

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and i i really enjoy looking at this

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stuff just uh near the center there just

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off center to the bottom that's the the

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trail head for the south kaibab trail

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one trail is one of the one of the very

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popular trails that goes down into the

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canyon itself and i look we have time

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for one more and i want to get you to

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to talk a little bit about the fact that

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sometimes you get called in to help uh

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to do work after disasters take place

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you showed us a

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a couple of pictures that you shot of

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where the tornado hit in moore oklahoma

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yeah um

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moore oklahoma of course back in in may

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of last year there was a the devastating

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tornado that

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ripped through moore

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and uh killed 24 people and it was a

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horrible tragic event we were asked to

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do some imaging uh in the aftermath to

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to document the the path of the the

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storm through moore there

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um as you can see running diagonally

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from lower left upper right that's the

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interstate that goes through the middle

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of town there just uh just to the upper

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left of that is where uh plaza towers

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elementary stood that was the site where

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those seven children were killed but we

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did this as as a

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a collaborative effort here with another

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group at uh at marshall that

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operates in uh looking at near real-time

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weather forecasting and they also uh

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look at the uh the effects of severe

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storms uh in uh primarily in the united

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states but in other parts of the country

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as well

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those are amazing pictures and i think

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it's great to see those kind of things

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uh burgess hell thank you for taking

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some time to

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tell us about iserv and what it's doing

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onboard the space

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station thank you pat we appreciate the

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opportunity to talk to you burgess

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howell is the payload developer and the

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principal investigator for the iserv