2011: An Agricultural Odyssey

Three thousand years before on the land where the Walter farm now stands, the ancient ones had planted their corn and squash, but now, in the early dawn, two newer stars were moving across the morning sky … Jeff watched the two drifting points of light against the faint glow in the eastern sky as he sipped his coffee.

Abstract

Three thousand years before on the land where the Walter farm now stands, the ancient ones had planted their corn and squash (Wormington 1947). The Anasazi who lived in the valley had watched the morning and evening stars and knew when it was time to plant their crops. Now, in the early dawn, two newer stars were moving across the morning sky … Jeff watched the two drifting points of light against the faint glow in the eastern sky as he sipped his coffee. “It's a wonder those crazy things don't bump into each other,” he thought as he turned back toward the house. Seven hundred and fifty kilometers above the earth and falling toward the horizon at 7.5 km/sec, AgView-9 was brilliant against the blackness of space. Ninth in a long series of such satellites, it currently shared its responsibilities with five other AgView satellites in low earth orbit. Three hundred and eighty-four multispectral sensors in one of the satellites passed over the Walter farm every three days providing Jeff with one-meter resolution views of Kevin Walters' farm within 24 hours of the pass.