Scott B. Luthcke NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Winner of the 2014 Nordberg Award

 
"Satellite Geodesy and NASA Earth Remote Sensing Missions"

NASA’s Earth remote sensing satellite missions have achieved significant scientific successes and have benefited society in numerous ways. Typically each mission has a sensor instrument or a suite of sensor instruments that becomes synonymous with the mission. Few people realize that many of these missions rely on significant developments and capabilities in satellite geodesy in order to achieve instrument performance, mission goals and scientific successes. So what is satellite geodesy and why is it relevant? I hope to answer these questions and convince you that many of our future Earth science measurement objectives depend on continual developments in satellite geodesy. Along the way I hope to show you interesting examples and expose you to the history and people involved.

Biographical Information

Scott B. Luthcke has over 20 years of experience in space geodesy, satellite measurement modeling and remote sensing for Earth and Planetary science applications. He has numerous publications ranging from 1 cm precision orbit determination, to spaceborne laser altimeter calibration, to ice sheet and glacier mass balance from satellite gravimetry. Scott has been published in SCIENCE and has appeared on the Discovery Channel in the Naked Science special Earth from Above. He has been involved in the development and science of numerous missions including: TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1&2, Shuttle Laser Altimeter, ICESat-1&2, Operation Ice Bridge, and the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Scott is the recipient of the following notable awards: The 2010 Robert H. Goddard Engineering Exceptional Achievement Award, The 2007 NASA Earth Science Exceptional Achievement Award, The 2006 Robert H. Goddard Science Exceptional Achievement Award, and most notably the 2010 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal in Science. Scott has been married to his college sweetheart, Kathy, for 25 years and he is the proud father of three smart and talented daughters: Allison (19), Rachel (18) and Angela (16). When not working or spending time with his family, he enjoys playing the guitar and tries to squeeze in time for surfing.

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