NASA’s Brian Campbell on Satellites, Ice, and Students

Susan Wise: Welcome to Stars Launch Pod, Space Technology and Research Sciences, brought to you by StarSciences.org, where we connect, collaborate, and accelerate. I’m your host, Susan Wise, and it’s a great honor to have Brian Campbell with us on the show today—NASA Senior Earth Science Specialist and Outreach Manager with GST. Welcome to the program.

Brian Campbell: Hi. Thank you, Susan. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Susan Wise: Well, it’s truly an honor. We’d like to hear a little bit more about you as we get started.

Brian Campbell: Sure. Yeah. So, as you mentioned, I’m a NASA Senior Earth Science Specialist and Outreach Manager with GST. I’m in my 25th year as a NASA contractor, working in the Earth sciences. I do a little bit of everything. I’ve been involved with NASA Earth-observing missions my entire career, working on both the science and the outreach side—interpreting the data, engaging students from all over the world, collaborating with educators and researchers, and helping them better understand what our satellites and instruments are telling us about our planet.

Susan Wise: Right now is a very exciting time. There’s a lot going on out there.

Brian Campbell: Yeah, absolutely. Our planet is dynamic—we see changes happening constantly. Right now, I’m looking out my window and watching clouds move rapidly past; the sky is blue in one spot and dark in another. Things change all the time. And working with students, educators, and researchers worldwide, it’s important to connect what’s happening locally to the bigger picture globally.

Susan Wise: Exactly. What are you currently working on that might further the space industry?

Brian Campbell: One of the missions I work on is ICESat-2—the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2. It’s a laser altimeter in space, launched on September 15, 2018. September 15, 2025, marks its seventh year in orbit. The satellite fires 10,000 laser pulses per second toward Earth to measure the height of surfaces.

We focus heavily on the polar regions, tracking how ice elevation changes over time. But we also measure the “third dimension” of Earth: the height of oceans, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and even trees. ICESat-2 has fired over 2 trillion laser shots and collects more than a terabyte of data per day. My role is to help people understand what all that data means and how it contributes to our knowledge of Earth’s changing systems.

Susan Wise: So that includes things like ice melt, rising temperatures, and even tree die-offs?

Brian Campbell: Exactly. Our primary focus is on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, where we see significant melting in certain regions. ICESat-2 can detect changes down to just a couple of centimeters, which is remarkable.

Beyond ice, we’ve mapped the height of several hundred billion trees so far—out of an estimated 3 trillion worldwide. Knowing tree height helps us understand how much carbon they’re storing. Of course, clouds sometimes block the lasers, so the satellite has a love-hate relationship with them. But even then, we can measure cloud height, which is built into the mission’s design.

Susan Wise: What has been your biggest “aha” moment?

Brian Campbell: For me, it’s working with students through The GLOBE Program—Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment. It’s been running for 30 years now, in 127 countries. Students take environmental measurements in their own communities and share them in the global GLOBE database.

The “aha” moment is when students realize their ground-based data complements satellite data. For example, if a student measures tree height locally, and ICESat-2 has measured the same location, researchers can compare the two sets of data. And if the satellite hasn’t measured that spot, the students’ data fills a gap. That realization—that every measurement they take matters—is incredibly powerful.

Susan Wise: I bet they get excited knowing they’re truly part of it.

Brian Campbell: They do! It doesn’t matter what country they’re from—students everywhere light up when they realize they’re contributing to real science. I’ve seen it firsthand around the world, even in something as simple as spotting students wearing NASA T-shirts. Those moments are inspiring.

Susan Wise: What has been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

Brian Campbell: One of the biggest challenges is the sheer volume of NASA data. We have trillions of data points from dozens of missions, past and present. Even for me, after 25 years, it can be overwhelming to sift through it all. Students and educators who are new to the data can easily feel lost.

My job often involves helping people navigate these vast archives—pointing them to the right tools, guiding them toward the most relevant datasets, and simplifying complex information into something they can actually use for research or education.

Susan Wise: What advice would you share with our listeners?

Brian Campbell: I always tell people: failure is an option. That might sound strange coming from NASA, where we often say “failure is not an option.” But in my experience, failure is how we learn and grow.

I’ve had research papers rejected multiple times before finally being accepted. I’ve written proposals that weren’t funded. Each setback was discouraging, but also an opportunity to improve and ultimately succeed. Don’t let failure stop you—it’s part of the process of getting better.

Susan Wise: That’s excellent advice. Before we wrap up, do you have a passion project you’d like to share?

Brian Campbell: Definitely. My passion lies in working with students, especially through the GLOBE Program. One project that stands out was in Croatia, where students noticed people experiencing respiratory distress in a local park. They used GLOBE air quality protocols and discovered an invasive plant species releasing spores that caused the problem.

They worked with local officials, who removed the plants, and afterward, the air quality improved dramatically. The students solved a real environmental issue in their community—and I was proud just to play a small role in mentoring them through that process.

Susan Wise: That must be incredibly rewarding. And speaking of recognition, you recently received the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Public Service Award, right?

Brian Campbell: Yes, I did—last December. It’s the highest honor that Wallops gives, and it was really exciting to receive.

Susan Wise: Congratulations. Brian, thank you so much for sharing your story with us here on Stars Launch Pod. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

Brian Campbell: Thank you, Susan.

Susan Wise: That was Brian Campbell, NASA Senior Earth Science Specialist and Outreach Manager with GST. Be sure to join us at StarSciences.org for a free one-year membership with the promo code Friends321. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review and subscribe. Until next time—keep looking up.