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##   As USGS EROS Turns 50, Director Embraces Future

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      By Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center       August 14, 2023    

Dr. Pete Doucette came to the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in 2019 from the USGS in Reston, Virginia, to lead the Integrated Science and Applications Branch—and, he suspects, to “shake things up a little bit.”

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He brought with him a background in remote sensing and machine learning, along with a passion for data science. Now in his role as Director of EROS, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, he foresees new cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies as a big part of the future of EROS.

With the Landsat satellite data archive and part of NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center at EROS available to users in the cloud, “I think we're making nice progress in the direction of cloud,” said Doucette in an EROS-produced Eyes on Earth podcast episode. “And I think AI is the next big technology front that we're starting to get into.”

He embraces the potential of AI to advance remote sensing with excitement—but also a twinge of envy that scientists get to do the work now that he said he would have loved to have experienced in his research days.

Doucette also reflected about the 50-year history of EROS and how integral the Landsat Program has been to it. Landsat’s exploration of the Earth’s land surfaces from space is an American, and global, story that EROS staff can be proud to tell, Doucette said.

EROS encountered plenty of changes through the years, but one dramatic change Doucette thinks would have been fascinating to experience firsthand was the passionate debate surrounding the 2008 USGS decision to open the Landsat archive online to the world at no charge.

Hear more of Doucette’s impressions about the past and the future of EROS on “Eyes on Earth Episode 101 – EROS 50th: Director Pete Doucette Looks Ahead.”

 

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## Related Content

                -              Multimedia           
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Listen to Eyes on Earth's Episode 101 featuring USGS EROS Center Director Pete Doucette, and watch the EROS 50th anniversary video.

August 14, 2023

####   Eyes on Earth Episode 101 – EROS 50th: Director Pete Doucette Looks Ahead

EROS Center Director Pete Doucette has been at EROS for a fairly short stretch of the center’s 50-year history, but his passion for the mission of EROS and its opportunities in the future are clear in this episode of Eyes on Earth.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

August 19, 2023

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

For 50 years, the people of EROS have overcome difficulties and celebrated triumphs together, always centered on providing a perspective of the Earth that helps us better understand its condition. This video, timed with the 50th anniversary celebration at EROS in August of 2023, explores the center's history.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

August 19, 2023

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

For 50 years, the people of EROS have overcome difficulties and celebrated triumphs together, always centered on providing a perspective of the Earth that helps us better understand its condition. This video, timed with the 50th anniversary celebration at EROS in August of 2023, explores the center's history.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

August 15, 2023

####                 Celebrating a Half-Century at EROS              

For 50 years, the EROS Center has been archiving and distributing satellite, aerial, and mapping data amidst farmland north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We invite you to explore the surprising history and cutting-edge science and research performed at EROS every day. 

Core Science Systems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , EROS History Project, Landsat Legacy

## Related Content

Listen to Eyes on Earth's Episode 101 featuring USGS EROS Center Director Pete Doucette, and watch the EROS 50th anniversary video.

August 14, 2023

####   Eyes on Earth Episode 101 – EROS 50th: Director Pete Doucette Looks Ahead

EROS Center Director Pete Doucette has been at EROS for a fairly short stretch of the center’s 50-year history, but his passion for the mission of EROS and its opportunities in the future are clear in this episode of Eyes on Earth.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

August 19, 2023

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

For 50 years, the people of EROS have overcome difficulties and celebrated triumphs together, always centered on providing a perspective of the Earth that helps us better understand its condition. This video, timed with the 50th anniversary celebration at EROS in August of 2023, explores the center's history.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

August 19, 2023

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

#### USGS EROS: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence

link

For 50 years, the people of EROS have overcome difficulties and celebrated triumphs together, always centered on providing a perspective of the Earth that helps us better understand its condition. This video, timed with the 50th anniversary celebration at EROS in August of 2023, explores the center's history.

Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

August 15, 2023

####                 Celebrating a Half-Century at EROS              

For 50 years, the EROS Center has been archiving and distributing satellite, aerial, and mapping data amidst farmland north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We invite you to explore the surprising history and cutting-edge science and research performed at EROS every day. 

Core Science Systems Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , EROS History Project, Landsat Legacy

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#### Michelle Bouchard

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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

mbouchard@usgs.gov

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