Back To School with Planet: Week 1 | Hello, World!
This is the first installment of our Back to School with Planet series, a weekly update for K-8 students interested in learning more about the science we do with Earth and Space. Learn more about this series here.
You can find this entry in Spanish here. / Puedes encontrar este texto en español aquí.
You can find this entry in German here / Hier findet ihr den Blogpost auf Deutsch
At Planet we build tiny satellites called Doves. Each Dove is about the size of a small dog, or a little bigger than a loaf of bread:
More than a hundred Doves orbit the Earth every day. Their job is to take pictures of everywhere on Earth, and then send those pictures back home to us here on the surface of the planet.
The scientists that work with those kinds of pictures call this Earth observation (EO).
But what is Earth observation good for? Why are scientists so interested in these pictures?
Getting a Bird’s Eye View
When we are able to view our own planet from a distance, we can see all sorts of things that we might not necessarily be able to see down here from the surface. Think about zooming out with your camera: Earth observation is how we zoom out to see more of our planet.
Ever since cameras were invented, humans have been looking for ways to take pictures above the surface of Earth. In fact, in the early 1900s, some people even trained pigeons to carry automatic cameras so that they could take pictures while flying!
Today most Earth observation pictures don’t come from birds: instead, now we can use airplanes and satellites to carry the cameras. Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t also name some of our satellites after birds!
What Changes and What Stays the Same
Getting a good look at our planet from above lets us see change over time. With repeated Earth observation, we can see things like:
- A farmer’s field that goes from lush and green in summer to brown and dry in winter
- A living coral reef in the Pacific Ocean as it changes size and shape
- A forest that gradually shrinks as its trees are cut down
- A city’s streets before and after a hurricane sends rain to flood the roads
And much more.
Being able to observe change like that allows us humans to learn things that we might not otherwise have known without the Earth observation pictures. Seeing change lets us understand the effects of things like climate change and human activity on our planet.
This Week’s Activities
Ask yourself the same questions a scientist who is interested in Earth observation might ask themselves: if you could look at anything on the Earth from space, what would it be? Why?
Now think about how that place might change over time: if you returned in a year to observe the same place on Earth, what would be different? What would be the same?
Draw pictures or write a description of the place you would like to observe and how it might change over time.
Send us your pictures or descriptions at backtoschool@planet.com!
Further Inspiration
Reading (Grades 4–8): Blue Marble by Don Nardo
Reading (Grades K — 3): Thank You, Earth by April Pulley Sayre
Movie to watch (Documentary): Spaceship Earth (2020)
