ESSI Chairman Larry Vance today announced that Probe-1 will be employed in a federal grant project for the University of Idaho to identify specific noxious weeds advancing across federal and state lands in northern Idaho.

"Probe-1 has demonstrated its capabilities on many natural resource challenges, and this project will help establish our instrument as a critical tool in the environmental arena," Vance said. "The revenue our company will derive from this work will be dwarfed, we believe, by work we will be asked to perform once the federal agencies see the quality of information that comes back from this airborne remote sensing project directed by the College of Agriculture at the University of Idaho."

Vance said ESSI's Probe-1 has been assigned 43 flight lines across central and northern Idaho and eastern Oregon on the project. Vance said Probe-1 will cover some 40 square miles of Idaho and Oregon terrain during the grant project. Separately, ESSI will conduct remote sensing flights for other purposes covering some 2,000 square miles in the region. The work will be carried out over the next several weeks.

"The rapid spread of noxious weeds has partnered growers, foresters, environmentalists and sportsmen to take action against the invasion and dominance of our lands," said Dr. Larry Lass, a support scientist at the University of Idaho and the manager of the project. "Early detection of small infestations is the key to success before the environmental harm is done.

Funds provided by the members of the Tri-State Demonstration Weed Management Area allow the University of Idaho to test the Probe-1's potential to detect small infestations in range and forest. This will establish a baseline from which we can measure the future success of mitigation programs designed to win the battle against noxious weeds. We need to know where the weeds are before the battle can begin."

The University of Idaho will also examine Probe-1's potential in detecting common agricultural weeds in crops.

"Current precision agricultural sprayers are being produce to reduce herbicide application costs by treating only weedy areas," said Dr. Lass. "Costs savings have not been fully realized because weed locations are poorly mapped. Funds provided by the American Farm Bureau and Idaho Farm Bureau supports the University of Idaho's effort to determine if the Probe 1 can detect and map weeds in wheat, peas, lentils, and barley fields." Lass said he is confident of further grant funding for similar projects across other states as success is shown in these pilot projects.

Vance founded Earth Search Sciences 15 years ago on the idea that an improvement on existing satellite technology could be developed for use in an airplane to make more affordable and flexible the process of scanning of the earth for minerals and other specific targets of interest.

Probe-1 was brought to market in 1997, and in the second half of the year conducted successful missions with U.S. government agencies over Kazakhstan and for private clients over targets in the United States. This year, Probe-1 has been employed in remote sensing missions in Australia, Mexico and the U.S.

Remote sensing, or "hyperspectral imaging," creates ultra high-resolution images of the earth's surface. Analysis of these images can determine the presence of target minerals in geologic formations or evidence of minerals from vegetal "signatures."

Earth Search Sciences officials believe Probe-1's low-cost capabilities extend across mineral, environmental, defense, agriculture and many other industries.