Picture（画） a distant（在远处的） satellite（卫星） in a silent vacuum of space. How might that satellite hold keys to some of Earth's most pressing problems? What might it possibly have to do with what you had for breakfast this morning? How might that satellite hold keys to some of Earth's most pressing problems? Satellites are deeply（深刻地） connected to our everyday lives. The most obvious example is GPS, but there's so very much more.

  Every day, satellites, thousands of them, circle Earth. Some of those satellites are transmitting（传输） data（资料） about Earth back to Earth. Now, we all know that Earth has some very serious problems. And understandably（可理解地）, some people think that we should be investing in solving those problems instead of spending money on space. I'm here to suggest that space-based capabilities（才能） hold the keys to understanding and mitigating（减轻） some of Earth's most pressing problems. I love solving hard problems, and I've learned that good solutions are derived（源于） from good data（资料）.

  If you can't properly characterize（描绘…的特性） the problem, you're unlikely to achieve the most optimal（最佳的） solution. People who work in aerospace（航空宇宙）, building rockets（火箭）, operating（操作） satellite（卫星） systems, they also love hard problems. Well, I'm not a rocket scientist or a satellite operator（操作人员）. I am a member of a small cadre of space policy and law experts. Now, some people think that legally space is the wild west. It's not.

  There are laws. That said, there are also really interesting questions, legal questions, that arise（出现） from space activities. That's initially（最初） what led me to work at SpaceX. The interesting legal questions that come with things like reusable rockets. And how do we foster（培养） the U.S. commercial space industry?

  Today, I teach space law. Yes, it is a class. And I advise numerous（许多的） companies and U.S. government entities（实体）. Space-based capabilities are key to understanding some of our hardest problems. But I didn't understand that when I was an Austin College student.

  When I graduated from Austin College, I set a trajectory of my career that was focused on humanitarian（人道主义的） issues. I basically（基本上） wanted to help save the world. Today, I realize that I'm actually not that far off course. Because space-based capabilities holds the keys to solving some of Earth's most pressing problems. President Kennedy famously said that we go to space because it's hard. And in doing that, we would bring together some of the brightest minds and we would drive innovation（创新）.

  Today, we still go to space and eventually we'll get back to the moon. But we do that because going to space is vital（至关重要的） to predicting life-threatening（威胁） weather, fighting food insecurity, managing our limited（有限的） natural resources, addressing（写名字地址） humanitarian（人道主义的） crises（危机）, and maintaining（维持） peace and security. We can gather life-saving data from space thanks to scientific and technological（科技的） innovations（创新） in remote sensing. Now, what is remote sensing? Remote sensing is the science of obtaining（获得） information about objects and areas from a distance. Typically from satellites or from aircraft（飞机）.

  Space-based remote sensing allows us to have a distinct（与其它不同的） vantage（ 优势） point high above the Earth where we can take notes about the Earth's oceans, its land masses, its atmosphere, and its inhabitants（居民）. We can see and understand what's happening on a daily basis on our planet. Remote sensing（感觉到） capabilities（才能） come remote sensing（感觉到） satellites（卫星）, I should say come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and types of sensors（传感器）. Those sensors collect data from Earth in the form of reflected sunlight, emitted（发出） heat, and bounce（弹跳） back radar（[雷达] 雷达） signals. Those signals allow us to observe（遵守） Earth on a daily basis in a variety of ways. They also allow us to do that at a scale（刻度） that's unachievable through other methods.

  Sure, we can all go and we could send people out to scale mountains and to collect data. We can also fly aircraft full of sensors. But aircraft are limited because did you know that in any given（做） moment 70 percent of Earth is covered in clouds or darkness（黑暗）? Operating from space in a variety of orbits so that means in different distances and inclinations（倾斜） from Earth satellites（卫星） capture（捕获） continuous images and data（资料）. Some operate from geostationary orbit, meaning they maintain their position over a fixed point on Earth, constantly（不断地） observing（遵守） and collecting data（资料） on that one point.