Oil Field Fires, Kuwait: 1991 The Kuwaiti oil field fires were easily visible from space. Astronauts aboard the space shuttle in the spring of 1991 captured this image of Kuwait. It shows a few of the smoke plumes from the 700 oil wells blown up by the defeated Iraqi army as they fled Kuwait. The smoke plume reached about 16,000 feet, and black rain fell in parts of Iran and Saudi Arabia. By November all of the oil fires had been extinguished, though the cleanup of the fires and the oil released into the Persian Gulf is still going on.

Hurricane Andrew: 1992 Hurricane Andrew was the most costly natural disaster in US history, sweeping into heavily populated south Florida with winds of up to 160 mph. Nevertheless, human casualties were low because of advance warning from satellites. High-resolution satellite images also allowed a three-dimensional reconstruction of the hurricane, which aided forecasters in predicting hurricane movements. More accurate storm position forecasts enable emergency managers to conduct evacuations in threatened areas.

Mississippi River Flooding: 1993 The Midwestern US floods of 1993 are best seen and understood from a satellite's viewpoint. These views of St. Louis before and during the flood illustrate how remote sensing can be used to assess changes and aid in emergency planning and remediation efforts. And so, you see, remote sensing is not really new, is it? It has been developing through the ages -- from Caesar to the shuttle to the Hubble -- becoming more sophisticated as mankind has developed new and more powerful tools for collecting information, for seeing the unseen. Remote sensing has even moved beyond the simple reply of Caesar's Centurion: "To those high up, nothing is concealed." And what of the future? Stay tuned!