"We can fly over an area and precisely map its plant quality and soil makeup -- including mineral variation and organic carbon content -- in approximately 6-foot increments," Rickman said.
Armed with this data, farmers can improve crop health and yield by applying precise amounts of seed, fertilizer and pesticides as needed. Rickman's remote sensing work also has led to improvements of a more personal nature the gift of sight for the legally blind.
Rickman was a lead researcher on LVES, a low-vision enhancement system developed in the early 1990s by NASA and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Most legally blind people still retain some sight. But they cannot function normally with that limited sight," he said. "In many cases, our system lets them lead a somewhat normal life."
Eyeglasses cannot intensify the brightness of what a person can see, only the clarity. The new system "cures" both. A blind person wears a lightweight headset with mounted video cameras. The cameras feed what they see into circuitry that digitizes and manipulates the image to compensate for the weaknesses of the particular wearer's vision even brightening the image, if necessary. The improved image is then displayed inside the headset, bringing a clear picture to the person. Today, the system is used by many people around the world.
Rickman graduated from Joplin's Parkwood High School in 1969. He earned his bachelor's and doctorate degrees from the University of Missouri at Rolla, and his master's in geology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. His work with remote sensing began in 1980 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. He joined the Marshall Center in 1992.
When Rickman's not finding new ways to "look" at
'"/>
Contact: Steve Roy
Steve.Roy@msfc.nasa.gov
256-544-0034
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center News Center
1-Feb-2000