ABOVE VIDEO:An imaging system aboard the station, ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV), captured photographs of Earth from space for use in developing countries affected by natural disasters. The latest video in the Benefits for Humanity series demonstrated how ISERV images from the orbiting laboratory were used to aid people on the ground for the past several years.
BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – A picture is worth a thousand words, but in the case of International Space Station imagery, a picture also may be worth a thousand lives.
An imaging system aboard the station, ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV), captured photographs of Earth from space for use in developing countries affected by natural disasters.
The latest video in the Benefits for Humanity series demonstrated how ISERV images from the orbiting laboratory were used to aid people on the ground for the past several years.
A broader joint endeavor by NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development, known as SERVIR, works with developing nations around the world to use satellites for environmental decision-making.
Images from orbit can help with rapid response efforts to floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, deforestation, harmful algal blooms and other types of natural events.
Essentially, ISERV is a camera attached to a telescope that sits inside the space station and collected imagery when it passed over natural events or disasters.
Since the station passes over more than 90 percent of the Earth’s populated areas every 24 hours, the ISERV system was available to provide imagery to developing nations quickly, collecting up to 1,000 images per day.
Dan Irwin
“ISERV is an example of in essence making the International Space Station even more international and connecting space to village to better understand and protect our home planet,” said Dan Irwin, director of NASA’s SERVIR Coordination Office.
Though ISERV successfully completed its mission, the space station continues to prove to be a valuable platform for Earth observation during times of disaster.
An imaging system aboard the station, ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV), captured photographs of Earth from space for use in developing countries affected by natural disasters. The latest video in the Benefits for Humanity series demonstrated how ISERV images from the orbiting laboratory were used to aid people on the ground for the past several years. (NASA.gov image)
