Lesson Plan on Remote Sensing

Objectives: Students will be able to

  1. Demonstrate the existence of infrared radiation through Herschel's experiment.
  2. Explain the types of radiation that are of high transmittance in remote sensing data.
  3. Explain how the atmosphere absorbs, transmits, and scatters energy and how each are important in remote sensing.
  4. Explain how digital information received from the sensors on a satellite is translated into an image.

Grade Levels: 8-12

Background Information:

The Multispectral Imager and the Near Infrared Spectrograph have been adapted from military remote sensing systems. Together these instruments will provide both imaging and determination of mineralogic composition of Eros by measuring the spectrum of reflected sunlight.

Remote sensing is measuring the amount of electromagnetic energy that is being reflected. By determining the amount of electromagnetic radiation that is reflected, one can derive in- formation about the object being surveyed from images acquired from remote sensing systems. The sensors on satellites will pick up wavelengths of radiation in a narrow range which includes visible light to near infrared radiation.

The activities that are included in this lesson plan cover the basic concepts behind remote sensing. In addition it explains how digital information is received and then translated into an image.

Activities:

Activity 1: Visible Light and Infrared Radiation

Activity 2: Atmospheric Effects in Remote Sensing

Activity 3: Processing Satellite Images

No Frames Table of Contents

[LMGFP home page] Contact Karen Krupinsky (kgurley@gsfc.nasa.gov) or
Tammy Seergae (tseergae@umd.edu) for further information.