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Science and Technology Education for Land / Life Assessment (STELLA): Democratizing Remote Sensing Science With Low‐Cost Open‐Source Instruments for Research and Education.

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Titel: Science and Technology Education for Land / Life Assessment (STELLA): Democratizing Remote Sensing Science With Low‐Cost Open‐Source Instruments for Research and Education.
Autoren: Mirel, Paul, Taylor, Michael P., Barber, William Jesse, Campbell, Petya, Cilento, Bianca, Nichols, Lynn M., Lerdau, Manuel
Quelle: Perspectives of Earth & Space Scientists; Dec2025, Vol. 6 Issue 1, p1-11, 11p
Schlagwörter: REMOTE sensing, VISIBLE spectra, SURFACE temperature, ENVIRONMENTAL research
Firma/Körperschaft: UNITED States. National Aeronautics & Space Administration
Abstract: NASA scientists and engineers, in collaboration with university researchers, have developed low‐cost lightweight remote sensing instruments that anyone can build and use to bring remote sensing science to communities beyond traditional professional scientists. Built from commercially available components, these Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment (STELLA) instruments measure light spectra over 18 channels in the visible and near‐infrared range to permit detailed observation of natural and built surfaces and evaluation of vegetation reflectance characteristics. The simplest of the STELLA instruments, the STELLA‐Q, can be quickly assembled by connecting the components with inexpensive cables, at a total cost of approximately $200 in 2025. The STELLA‐1 supports additional sensors to measure surface temperature and ambient air parameters, and can be assembled by anyone who can solder, following step‐by‐step, wire‐by‐wire instructions. The open‐source software for these instruments is written in a freely available variant of the Python programming language for ease of understanding. The data are recorded in plain text to a micro‐SD card for ease of access and analysis. These inexpensive, accessible instruments make hands‐on immersive remote sensing education widely available and can enable new areas of scientific research at spatial and temporal resolutions not practical with the necessarily smaller numbers of expensive instruments. Plain Language Summary: A healthy plant leaf may be bright green, while the leaf of an unhealthy plant may be yellow or brown. Measurements of the color of light reflected from a leaf can reveal details of plant health, and the light reflected from other things can tell us about the composition of the materials. NASA has designed a color measuring tool that can be built by anyone, using parts that are cheap and easy to get. NASA provides free step‐by‐step instructions needed to build this tool. Teachers can use these low‐cost tools to look at plants and other objects, so that students can learn how to measure color in detail, using the same ideas that NASA and others use to measure colors on Earth from tools in space. Measuring the color of leaves can help farmers make better use of water and fertilizers. Conservation of fresh water is critically important, and overuse of fertilizers is wasteful of resources. These new low‐cost NASA tools can help teachers, farmers, foresters, and ecologists to learn more about how the Earth works. Key Points: New lightweight low‐cost remote sensing instruments create opportunities for immersive education in sciences, engineering, programming, and data scienceThese new instruments create opportunities for environmental research by scientists and citizen‐scientists, at higher‐density temporal and spatial scales than can be achieved with high‐capital space‐based or ground‐based instrumentsThe instruments can be built by anyone from commercially available components using available detailed step‐by‐step instructions and open‐source software [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Abstract:NASA scientists and engineers, in collaboration with university researchers, have developed low‐cost lightweight remote sensing instruments that anyone can build and use to bring remote sensing science to communities beyond traditional professional scientists. Built from commercially available components, these Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment (STELLA) instruments measure light spectra over 18 channels in the visible and near‐infrared range to permit detailed observation of natural and built surfaces and evaluation of vegetation reflectance characteristics. The simplest of the STELLA instruments, the STELLA‐Q, can be quickly assembled by connecting the components with inexpensive cables, at a total cost of approximately $200 in 2025. The STELLA‐1 supports additional sensors to measure surface temperature and ambient air parameters, and can be assembled by anyone who can solder, following step‐by‐step, wire‐by‐wire instructions. The open‐source software for these instruments is written in a freely available variant of the Python programming language for ease of understanding. The data are recorded in plain text to a micro‐SD card for ease of access and analysis. These inexpensive, accessible instruments make hands‐on immersive remote sensing education widely available and can enable new areas of scientific research at spatial and temporal resolutions not practical with the necessarily smaller numbers of expensive instruments. Plain Language Summary: A healthy plant leaf may be bright green, while the leaf of an unhealthy plant may be yellow or brown. Measurements of the color of light reflected from a leaf can reveal details of plant health, and the light reflected from other things can tell us about the composition of the materials. NASA has designed a color measuring tool that can be built by anyone, using parts that are cheap and easy to get. NASA provides free step‐by‐step instructions needed to build this tool. Teachers can use these low‐cost tools to look at plants and other objects, so that students can learn how to measure color in detail, using the same ideas that NASA and others use to measure colors on Earth from tools in space. Measuring the color of leaves can help farmers make better use of water and fertilizers. Conservation of fresh water is critically important, and overuse of fertilizers is wasteful of resources. These new low‐cost NASA tools can help teachers, farmers, foresters, and ecologists to learn more about how the Earth works. Key Points: New lightweight low‐cost remote sensing instruments create opportunities for immersive education in sciences, engineering, programming, and data scienceThese new instruments create opportunities for environmental research by scientists and citizen‐scientists, at higher‐density temporal and spatial scales than can be achieved with high‐capital space‐based or ground‐based instrumentsThe instruments can be built by anyone from commercially available components using available detailed step‐by‐step instructions and open‐source software [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:26376989
DOI:10.1029/2025CN000284