From Orbit to Earth: Agricultural Workforce Development using Real-Time Spectrometry

Video Summary

At Garden City Community College in Kansas, Assistant Professor Elisa Mai integrated STELLA spectrometers into her Technology in Agriculture course during fall 2025. The partnership came together when Kansas State University recognized that the college’s newly developed Crop Production Technology program aligned well with NASA ACRES‘ goals. Mai’s program trains students who want to return to family farms or become agronomists, and the STELLA instruments provided a hands-on way to teach remote sensing and precision agriculture concepts. Students used STELLA-1.2 spectrometers alongside Landsat 8-9 satellite data, supplemented with soil data from web surveys and elevation data, to measure spectral differences between surfaces like concrete and grass, and healthy versus stressed vegetation. “Having the STELLAs there was cool because we were able to see at the moment what those wavelengths actually looked like,” Mai explained. The real-time visual display helped students understand wavelength changes that were previously abstract concepts when viewing satellite imagery alone. Students collected field data that the NASA ACRES team—including Jacob Orser, Mike Humber, and Allison Bredder—helped analyze, then completed projects visiting multiple field sites and presenting their findings.

“It made it easy to explain and I think it was cool for the students to see just from walking around and pointing the STELLA at the ground what was happening. I think it really made that part make more sense because when we were looking at satellite data, they’re like, oh, yeah, of course. These points that we’re looking at and we mapped are different. But being able to actually see the jump in those wavelengths was pretty useful.”

– Elisa Mai

Mai extended the technology’s reach by showcasing STELLA at a campus STEM fair, where she demonstrated spectral differences between bare dirt and plants for students and faculty from across the college. She kept explanations accessible, comparing the instrument’s readings to printed NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) satellite imagery without overwhelming visitors with complex equations, recognizing that many attendees didn’t know satellites could monitor plant health. This approach helped introduce precision agriculture technology to potential students in a way that felt approachable rather than intimidating. The course introduced basic concepts like different types of light, how satellites are used in farming, and wavelength analysis, with students going out to fields to gather data and bring it back to the classroom for analysis.

For the next course iteration scheduled for spring 2027, Mai plans several improvements based on the first implementation. She wants to provide deeper technical instruction on how STELLA instruments actually function, as students used them successfully but didn’t fully understand the underlying technology. Mai also plans to expand field campaigns beyond measuring around campus—taking students to actual agricultural fields to compare good and bad crop sections so they can see real-world agricultural applications. While the first cohort kept instruction “very, very broad” due to time constraints and the novelty of the material, future students will get more sophisticated training in both the technical aspects of the instruments and their practical applications in diagnosing plant health and field conditions.

Transcript

So my name is Elisa mei.

I’m the assistant professor of crop production

technology at Garden City Community College.

And so, basically this last fall semester.

So this would have been fall of 2025.

We started a new class called technology in Agriculture.

And that class, basically

went over a lot of different types of technology and AG.

Everything from seed genetics to satellites and autosteer,

automatic road shut off on farming implements and all things like that.

And then when, K-State kind of brought

NASA Acres and Garden City Community College together,

they thought that we’d be able

to make a really good partnership, especially with my program being new

and being, the program, the crop production technology program.

Was recently developed, and it’s mostly just to train,

people who want to go back to the farm and also people who

maybe want to be an agronomist and basically diagnose plant health.

And so that was kind of the purpose of that program.

So K-State noticed that, what we were doing

would probably fit pretty well with what NASA Acres is trying to do also.

Using STELLA in the Field and at the STEM Fair

So over

last summer, so summer of 2025, we were able to talk about ways

we could include NASA Acres into that course.

And it fit very, very well.

So we were able to just bring it over directly into that.

And that’s where eventually the STELLAs got involved with that also.

So in the class, we talked about a lot of different things,

the different, types of light, how we see things.

Went over like the technology side, or the technical side, I guess.

I guess I should say of that.

Talked a lot about satellites, how we utilize those and farming,

how we could utilize those and went out

to fields, gathered data and everything like that.

And then the STELLAs we were able to kind of get a more hands

on, down to Earth approach looking at that light.

Previously, we had only looked at infrared light

and, all the different wavelengths using satellite data.

So having the STELLAs there, it was cool because we were able to see

at the moment what those wavelengths actually looked like.

And then we recorded some data, and then we’re able to take that back

to the classroom.

And look at the data we gathered from that.

I also

was able to take the Stella’s to a little,

stem fair that we had at the college.

It was just for, well, primarily for Garden City Community College students.

The community was open to the community, but we only had students attend,

and other faculty.

So other students and faculty came.

Saw how the STELLAs worked.

I compared bare dirt to actual plants so they were able to see the wavelengths.

And then I also printed off a, image of basically what we see

when we look at satellite data and those differences in NDVI.

So it was just super, super broad.

I, of course, didn’t go into like the equation and all of that,

because that gets a little much for someone who doesn’t even know

that we can use a satellite to look at a plant.

So, anyways, that’s pretty much what we did at the very end of the class.

The students did a project where they went to a bunch of different

sites, gathered data, looked at a field, and compared it all.

And so they then put that all into a presentation

showing what they found, anything that surprised them.

And that was pretty much the conclusion of that class.

That’s awesome.

And what version of so did you use again?

I think it was the 1.2 to

NASA Satellite Comparison

was there a particular satellite that you compared the data to?

We mostly use Landsat, mostly use Landsat and the others.

I’m trying to remember now.

I don’t think so.

NASA Acres helped a lot with gathering all that up.

But primarily when we did our projects, when it came to the data,

we were using Landsat, I think it was eight, nine

or however you look at that when you’re looking at the data.

It was kind of new to me.

I’ll admit.

So I’m still learning.

And that process of it all.

But then we took other data, like some soil data from soil web survey.

Elevation data.

And I’m not sure where the elevation data, what satellite that was coming from,

because it was already kind of old and gathered.

But that’s pretty much what we used.

The STELLA Experience

what was your experience with the staff?

I really liked the screen

that you could actually see the wavelengths,

because that way when we were, you know, moving from concrete to grass,

I mean, there was just a huge jump all of a sudden.

So it made it easy to explain.

And I think it was cool for the students to see just from walking around

and pointing the STELLA at the ground what was happening.

I think it really made that part make more sense,

because when we were looking at satellite data, they’re like,

oh yeah, of course, these points that we’re looking at and we mapped

are different, but being able to actually see

the jump in those wavelengths was pretty useful.

That was I didn’t explore much with them.

That was primarily what we did is just look at those differences.

And then NASA Acres pulled that data for us

and then analyzed it all so we didn’t have to go through

the whole entire spreadsheet.

So that was very nice.

Trying to think the only issue that we had was

sometimes it was a little it took a while to record the GPS point

and the point that we were looking at and get all that data to load

and record.

So we had a hang up sometimes there.

I’m not sure if that was user error, or what was going on.

So I also had

students trying to do it as well, so that definitely could have been a factor.

But that was our only hang up point.

And we got through it and we still got the points recorded.

So we just knew that we had to just stay in there for a minute,

let it fully do whatever it’s doing in there.

And before we moved on to a different location.

So the were there any, like, cosmetic,

things or issues you had with the stoves or anything like that?

And are there any improvements you would suggest

or things that you would like to see it do?

No, I don’t think so.

Everything seemed to work pretty well.

Once you figured out how to use the dial, it was pretty easy.

I did like that there wasn’t a ton of buttons.

Because then I didn’t have to worry about people pressing things they shouldn’t.

It was just very.

Turn the knob till you’re at the thing, press it in, don’t touch anything else.

So that was really, really good.

They were easy to point at stuff

once I explained, you know, exactly where everything was.

It was easy to work with.

They looked really cool.

And I took them to the Stem fair.

People were stopping in asking me, what is that?

Because, I mean, they they look pretty different.

So, I think that was helpful to.

I know it’s kind of a small detail in the grand scheme of things,

but it definitely helps with the interest in the equipment.

So, I really liked that.

Technical Challenges and Learning Curve

And then how was working with NASA Acres did they?

Were they good.

And who was, who was on the the team that was working with you from NASA Acres

too it was Jacob Orser.

Mike can’t remember Mike’s…

Humber? Yes.

And, yeah, I can never remember his last name.

And then.

Allison. Bredder. Yes.

So, okay, those three awesome people from Acres.

Yeah, yeah, they were great.

Cool.

And so they did, they

when they were there, when you were setting up, you know,

doing all these measurements and all that, did

they go through like some of the process and all that sort of stuff.

Like what was their steps that you all had to take,

before you all started like really taking the measurements and all.

So in the beginning, we looked at, you know,

what wavelengths are, what we can see, what we can’t see,

all of that when it came to the STELLAs we kept it very, very broad.

We didn’t have a ton of time to go into details,

in the future.

I mean, this was our first time running the class,

so I think there’s some areas that we can tweak.

I would like to talk a little bit more about what the STELLAs really are,

what they’re doing, help apply that more on the technical side

because they saw, you know, physically they use them,

but I don’t think they fully understood

exactly what they were doing when they were using them.

And I would say, I don’t really either entirely.

So, that’s definitely an improvement I want to make.

And I want to I think going forward,

all we did was we took them outside of our classroom.

So there was still some green grass out there.

So we were able to just compare, like the pavement to the green

grass, different areas of the grass.

In the future.

I want to do that, but then I also want to travel to a field

and compare good parts of the field to bad parts of the field,

so that way they can see the real comparison there.

So kind of an introduction.

Get used to it, use it once and then actually go out there and

do something with it.

Plans for the Future

Are there any questions that I didn’t ask that you would like me to ask

or anything like that?

That you can think of something you know, that you would like to,

you know, finish off with, you know, thoughts, whatever.

Yeah.

Overall, I’d say just all the support from NASA Acres

and with the STELLA it was really, really great.

The students really enjoyed having a much more hands

on approach to the, remote sensing,

because remote sensing is not much fun to look at from a PowerPoint perspective.

So getting to see a little bit of what’s actually happening was really great.

And I’m excited to improve improve the course for the future also.