Jakob Van Zyl

Summary form only given, as follows. The complete presentation was not made available for publication as part of the conference proceedings. Jakob Van Zyl made major contributions to the field of airborne and space borne remote sensing and left a major legacy through his work and publications, the researchers he mentored and the students he taught. His PhD thesis at Caltech focused on the theory and application of polarimetric radar system and the wave-surface interactions. This was followed by a 35 years carrier at JPL where he worked on a number of polarimetric and interferometric radar systems including the Shuttle imaging radar missions. In addition to his radar work he also made a number of contributions in other fields of remote sensing such as imaging of planets around neighboring stars and development of drones for Martian surface observations. Few years ago he cofounded a company, Hydrosat, to develop space borne infrared instruments to map subtle surface temperature changes to assess health of vegetation. The first flight of this instrument will be in 2021 on the Vanzyl-1 spacecraft. in addition to his remote sensing work, he also played a key role in the strategic planning and development of a number of JPL astronomy, planetary and Earth observation missions This talk will highlight Jakob contribution to the field of remote sensing and the legacy he left for future research and missions.