**2. Remarkable development in spaceborne remote sensing**

Although the term 'remote sensing' was introduced in 1960. However, in practice, remote sensing has a long history. In the 1600s, Galileo used optical enhancements to survey celestial bodies [10]. An early exploration of prisms was conducted by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. Newton discovered that a prism dispersed light into a spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet and recombined the spectrum into white light. One hundred years later, in 1800, Sir William Herschel explored the thermal infrared electromagnetic radiation for the first time in the world. Herschel measured the temperature of light that had been split with a prism into the spectrum of visible colors. In the following decades, some attempts were made with aerial photographs using cameras attached to balloons. However, the results were not satisfactory until 1858, when Gasper Felix Tournachon took the first aerial photograph successfully from a captive balloon from an altitude of 1200 feet over Paris. Later, in 1889 in Labruguiere, France, Arthur Batut attached a camera and an altimeter to kites for the first time so that the image scale could be determined. Therefore, he is considered to be the father of kite aerial photography. Then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the camera was able to be miniaturized (e.g., 70 g) so that it was easily carried by pigeons. The Bavarian Pigeon Corps took the first aerial photos using a camera attached to a pigeon in 1903. During the First World War, the use of aerial photography grew. Later, in 1936, Albert W. Stevens took the first photograph of the actual curvature of the earth from a free balloon at an altitude of 72,000 feet. The first space photograph from V-2 rockets was acquired in 1946. **Table 1** addresses the evolution of the remote sensing, excluding the early development stage. The table starts with the use of aerial photographs for surveying and mapping as well for military use. The milestones in this evolution (see **Table 1**) were referenced to [7, 10]. Additionally, recent developments in microsatellites and satellite constellations are also listed in **Table 1**.


**Table 1.** Evolution and advancement in remote sensing satellites and sensors.

crop water requirement satisfaction indexes. Recently, a survey on remote sensing platforms and sensors was provided by Toth and Jóźków [9]. The authors gave a general review in current remote sensing platforms, including satellites, airborne platforms, UAVs, ground-based mobile and static platforms, sensor georeferencing and supporting navigation infrastructure,

In the literature, we found that overviews of remote sensing sensors were quite rare. One reason for this finding was that this topic is fairly broad. Usually, one can find detailed knowledge from thick books or a very simple overview from some webpages. As most readers need to obtain relevant knowledge within a reasonable time period and with a modest depth, the contribution of our paper is valuable. In this paper, we review the history of remote sensing, the interaction of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) and objects, imaging sensors and nonimaging sensors (e.g., laser rangefinders/altimeters), and commonly used satellites and their characteristics. In addition, future trends and potential applications are addressed. Although this paper is mainly about satellite sensors, there is no apparent boundary between satellite sensors and airborne, UAV-based, or ground-based sensors except that satellite sensors have more interaction with the atmosphere. Therefore, we use the term "remote sensing sensors"

Although the term 'remote sensing' was introduced in 1960. However, in practice, remote sensing has a long history. In the 1600s, Galileo used optical enhancements to survey celestial bodies [10]. An early exploration of prisms was conducted by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. Newton discovered that a prism dispersed light into a spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet and recombined the spectrum into white light. One hundred years later, in 1800, Sir William Herschel explored the thermal infrared electromagnetic radiation for the first time in the world. Herschel measured the temperature of light that had been split with a prism into the spectrum of visible colors. In the following decades, some attempts were made with aerial photographs using cameras attached to balloons. However, the results were not satisfactory until 1858, when Gasper Felix Tournachon took the first aerial photograph successfully from a captive balloon from an altitude of 1200 feet over Paris. Later, in 1889 in Labruguiere, France, Arthur Batut attached a camera and an altimeter to kites for the first time so that the image scale could be determined. Therefore, he is considered to be the father of kite aerial photography. Then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the camera was able to be miniaturized (e.g., 70 g) so that it was easily carried by pigeons. The Bavarian Pigeon Corps took the first aerial photos using a camera attached to a pigeon in 1903. During the First World War, the use of aerial photography grew. Later, in 1936, Albert W. Stevens took the first photograph of the actual curvature of the earth from a free balloon at an altitude of 72,000 feet. The first space photograph from V-2 rockets was acquired in 1946. **Table 1** addresses the evolution of the remote sensing, excluding the early development stage. The table starts with the use of aerial photographs for surveying and mapping as well for military use. The milestones in this evolution (see **Table 1**) were referenced to [7, 10]. Additionally, recent developments in

**2. Remarkable development in spaceborne remote sensing**

microsatellites and satellite constellations are also listed in **Table 1**.

and provided a short summary of imaging sensors.

22 Multi-purposeful Application of Geospatial Data

generally.
