R&D 100 winner of the day: Terra Spotlight: A New Paradigm in Rapid Change Detection Using Satellite Images

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has a rich history of designing and deploying space systems. Over 30% of all U.S. space systems have the Laboratory’s fingerprint on them. Terra Spotlight ensures that the Laboratory’s history of scientific excellence in space will continue. Terra Spotlight opens exciting frontiers in remote sensing and our understanding of changes to the Earth’s surface, with implications for national security, environmental science and more. Terra Spotlight, which employs a novel algorithmic approach, provides a crucial step in achieving the capability to monitor portions of the Earth’s surface for unexpected activities and changes. The growth in space-based remote sensing enables more complex analyses to deliver informed actionable intelligence. With the ever-increasing deluge of satellite data, the development of automated cueing and detection algorithms that tell us “where to look” is paramount. This capability — persistent geospatial intelligence — is of great interest to the Laboratory’s national security partners and commercial companies using remote sensing data for agriculture, emergency preparedness, climate change and more. Terra Spotlight is a new paradigm in rapid change detection, a novel capability for America’s national security.