ISSAC™ Overview
ISSAC Components installed in the WORF Ground Test Rack at the NASA Johnson Space Center.
For End Users
From onboard the International Space Station, the International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC) will take frequent images in response to requests from farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers, and tribal officials of the region to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land for which they are responsible. Imagery will also be shared with K-12 educators for classroom use.
Launch & Operations
ISSAC is currently expected to be launched in late 2008, with
operations commencing beginning with the 2009 growing season. Once operational, medium/high resolution imagery will be delivered to requesting end users within 2 days of acquisition.
Student Engineers
ISSAC has been built and will be operated primarily by students and faculty at the University of North Dakota.
Engineering development of ISSAC has been truly multi-disciplinary, involving many aspects of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and space studies.
Why ISSAC is Needed
Clouds obscure agricultural fields in this Landsat image of the Red River Valley, ND.
Existing medium-high resolution orbiting sensors (Landsat, ASTER) are used extensively in applications related to agricultural production and efficiency, though at a temporal resolution of at best only every 8 days; this can be problematic for geographical areas with seasonal cloudiness during critical growing season time periods. High-temporal imaging (multi-week to multi-day) by ISSAC from the ISS will dramatically increase temporal opportunities to obtain cloud-free images at spatial resolutions and wavelengths applicable for analysis of in-field variability of crop and range vegetative conditions.
Agricultural production conditions are highly dynamic from year to year, and are dependent on soils, crop or forage type, disease or infestations, management practices, and dominantly, the weather. Collecting ISSAC data over 3 full growing seasons will allow investigations across a range of variables and in-field conditions.
End User Tasking
End user research partners will be able to select specific geographical areas of interest and request collection of ISSAC imagery in both red and near-infrared bandpasses, and at medium-high spatial resolution. The ISSAC sensor will be able to point up to 30 degrees off-nadir, enabling frequent (multi-week to multi-day) imaging of a requested area, dramatically improving chances of obtaining cloud-free images. Collected images will be downlinked, processed on the ground, and delivered to the requesting end users within 1-2 days of image collection.
Agricultural Applications
Simulated ISSAC NDVI
Rick Lawrence, MSU
Farmers
Farmers using variable-rate application and other precision agriculture techniques will be able to dynamically delineate management zones as the crop vegetation canopy changes during the growing season; this can result in more effective use of fertilizer and other chemical inputs and reduce negative environmental effects.
Further, crop canopy reflectance in ISSAC spectral bands is correlative to nitrogen concentrations in the plant biomass; knowledge of variability of plant nitrogen across fields can be used to improve in-season nitrogen application decisions.
Ranchers
Ranchers will be better able to determine livestock carrying capacity of rangelands; this can help avoid ecosystem damage due to overgrazing and erosion. Rapid delivery of imagery for these and other applications will enable management decisions to be applied to the current season's operations.
