NASA SEES Students Showcase EarthLens
-STELLA Integration at AGU 2025
Advanced Drone Platform Combines Dual STELLA Insruments (Q2 Spectrometer & Helio) and AI Analysis for Enhanced Land Cover Monitoring
NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Sciences (SEES) interns Nandini Khaneja, Neev Tamboli, Samuel Bawden, and Jordan Rodriguez, part of the SEES Earth System Explorers Team sponsored by NESEC and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies presented their innovative EarthLens project at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2025, demonstrating exceptional technical achievement in developing a drone-and-app system that addresses limitations in existing citizen science tools.
Student Innovation and Workforce Development
The EarthLens team exemplifies the caliber of innovation emerging from NASA’s SEES program, successfully integrating complex systems across drone engineering, spectral sensing, mobile app development, and AI analysis. Their ability to identify real-world problems in platforms like NASA’s GLOBE Observer app and develop sophisticated solutions showcases the high-level technical skills being developed through NASA’s workforce development initiatives.
Understanding Why NASA Maintains the Cutting Edge
Working with EarthLens provides firsthand experience with sensor limitations that highlight why NASA must stay at the very cutting edge of science, engineering, and technology. The system uses two STELLA spectrometers – an AS7341 8-channel (415-680 nm) and AS7265x 18-channel (410-940 nm) – that reveal measurement variability, calibration challenges, and atmospheric interference effects.
By confronting these uncertainties with accessible instruments, users develop appreciation for why NASA missions require years of development, extensive calibration protocols, and sophisticated technology. This hands-on experience demonstrates why precision satellite sensors like Landsat and PACE represent the pinnacle of remote sensing engineering and why NASA must continue pushing technological boundaries to maintain scientific leadership.
Technical Innovation and Problem Solving
EarthLens addresses significant challenges identified in current citizen science platforms. Research revealed that 63.2% of users took more than 9 hours to complete land cover observations using traditional GLOBE tools, often losing data or struggling with poor image quality. The team’s solution combines:
- Drone platform with dual STELLA spectrometers for comprehensive spectral monitoring
- High-resolution Raspberry Pi cameras (3280 x 2464 pixels)
- Mobile app with real-time drone feeds, AI-powered land cover analysis, and social features
- GPS-accurate data collection that prevents the data loss plaguing existing platforms
Building on Research Foundation
The project extends work by Russanne Low, Peder Nelson, Cassie Soeffing, Andrew Clark, and the SEES 2020 Mosquito Mappers Research Team, whose 2021 study demonstrated connecting ground observations with satellite imagery. EarthLens advances this framework through drone-based data collection that bridges the gap between citizen science and professional Earth observation.
Advancing Science and Technology Leadership
The system incorporates AI for automated land cover classification while enabling users to learn remote sensing principles used in NASA missions. Though STELLA and EarthLens aren’t peer-reviewed research instruments, they provide valuable experience with measurement challenges that drive NASA’s commitment to advancing calibration methods and developing more sophisticated technology.
EarthLens demonstrates how understanding sensor limitations motivates continuous advancement in Earth observation capabilities. NASA’s investment in precision-calibrated missions and cutting-edge engineering ensures American leadership in space-based science and technology, maintaining the nation’s competitive advantage in understanding our planet through the most advanced remote sensing systems ever developed.
Related Links
- EarthLens
- NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Sciences (SEES)
- NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC)
- Institute for Global Strategies
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
References
Nandini Khaneja, Neev Tamboli, Jordan Rodriguez, et al. EarthLens: A Novel Drone-based Citizen Science Tool for Land Cover Observation and Analysis. ESS Open Archive . December 26, 2025.
DOI: 10.22541/essoar.176677108.80716415/v1
Low RD, Nelson PV, Soeffing C, Clark A and SEES 2020 Mosquito Mappers Research Team (2021) Adopt a Pixel 3 km: A Multiscale Data Set Linking Remotely Sensed Land Cover Imagery With Field Based Citizen Science Observation. Front. Clim. 3:658063. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2021.658063
