Leaders in Lidar Series Promo

In this series, we dive into the legacy of Goddard's lead role in developing laser altimetry, which has revolutionized the way we map our planet, the Moon and other planets. Each chapter looks at the successes and failures of these lidar instruments, beginning with the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter in the late 1980s, through the current generation of laser altimeters on ICESat-2 and GEDI. Through dozens of interviews and archival footage, the history, challenges and legacy of lidar are uncovered.

Video Description
0:00 Jim Garvin in front of a bright background.
0:03 Animation that looks like spacecraft blueprints, with a yellow line snaking through.
0:06 Archival footage of Noel Hinners at a lectern.
0:09 Pan across posed group photos.
0:12 Garvin again.
0:14 Jim Abshire on a video call.
0:16 Document that says MOLA Mars Observer Laser Altimeter.
0:17 Bryan Blair on a video call.
0:18 Vintage animation of a spacecraft flying above a planet, bouncing a red light off its surface.
0:20 Jan McGarry on a video call.
0:21 Zoom into an older picture of two people on a research aircraft.
0:22 Gold spacecraft with white components inside a clean room, with two people in clean room suits.
0:26 David E. Smith on a video call.
0:28 Rocket launching.
0:32 A man in a suit talking.
0:34 Montage of newspaper headlines referencing problems with Mars Observer.
0:36 Abshire again.
0:36 Several people looking at something.
0:40 Xiaoli Sun talking on a video call.
0:41 People looking at a computer.
0:42 People clapping.
0:43 Garvin in the room talking.
0:45 The blueprint animation.
0:47 Smith again.
0:49 A dark room lit by a green laser beam.
0:51 John Cavanaugh talking.
0:52 Data viz of the Moon, with green & red lines running longitudinally.
0:53 Tom Neumann in front of a TV screen.
0:54 A silver spacecraft with a big cylinder cut out, surrounded by people in clean room suits.
0:56 McGarry again.
0:57 McGarry on a computer.
1:00 The blueprint animation.
1:02 Garvin again.
1:03 Globe data viz over South America. Green lines crisscross the land.
1:05 Newer globe data viz, over the North Pole. Light blue, white, & purple circles cover the ocean.
1:06 Viz of another planet, with bright colors mapped to indicate different elevations.
1:07 Clips of people talking.
1:13 Montage of people cut out against a blueprint background. Bright beams of light bounce from the center over a stylized globe. In boxy yellow font: “Leaders in Lidar.”

Music: "The Archives," Universal Production Music.

Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBRwyle): Producer, Writer, Editor, Animator, Researcher
LK Ward (KBRwyle): Narrator, Project support
James Garvin (NASA, Chief Scientist Goddard): Scientist, Interviewee, Project support
Thomas A. Neumann (NASA/GSFC): Scientist, Interviewee, Project support
Bryan Blair (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
David E. Smith (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
James Abshire (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Jan McGarry (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Jay Zwally (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Ralph Dubayah (University of Maryland): Interviewee
Xiaoli Sun (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Jack L. Bufton (GST): Interviewee
John F. Cavanaugh (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
Joseph-Paul A. Swinski (NASA/GSFC): Interviewee
David Lloyd Rabine (NASA/GSFC): Project support
Kathryn Mersmann (NASA/GSFC): Project support
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Videographer
Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Videographer

This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14261. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery provided by pond5 and is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on footage may be found here https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14261. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html.

If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard
Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
· Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard
· Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
· Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix
· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard
· Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc