Jenn Sabers: Landsat Poised to Meet Scientific Mission
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, a joint project between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, is poised to deliver better data to monitor global land-use change with the planned launch of Landsat 8 early next year. Sensors & Systems (S&S) special correspondent Matteo Luccio spoke with Jenn Sabers, Remote Sensing Branch Chief, Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS) Center, U.S. Geological Survey, about the upcoming Landsat mission, the technology, and the important role of meeting the scientific mission.
S&S: What intellectual and academic path brought you to this job?
Sabers: I began in mathematics, here in South Dakota. I was familiar with the Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS) Center and visited EROS in college, as part of a math club. I remained in mathematics and got my master’s degree from the University of South Dakota. I wanted to come to EROS because I was very interested in its mission of understanding the changing Earth and what it did with its data in studying Earth resources. I originally came to EROS to work on the data processing side and programmed mathematical equations to process Earth imagery. Then, I got more and more into the satellite missions and now head up the preparation for participation by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).