Posted on 12/01/2007 10:39:07 AM PST by BenLurkin
NASA is testing a new synthetic aperture radar that may help unravel the mysteries beneath the Earth's surface, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. "What we're trying to do with this sensor is detect the motion of the Earth at the millimeter level," said Scott Hensley, chief scientist on the project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The radar is able to detect minute changes in the Earth's surface, used to measure pressure beneath the surface. For example, pressure along a fault line prior to an earthquake may cause a bulge, as would magma buildup before a volcanic eruption, Hensley said.
In repeated passes over an area, the radar is able to measure such surface deformities.
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, developed at JPL, is undergoing testing at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center using the center's Gulfstream III aircraft.
Data collected by the radar system, housed in a pod attached beneath the business jet's fuselage, may be used to create predictive models by giving scientists a greater understanding of the processes occurring beneath the earth.
The radar technology itself isn't new, having been perfected in use aboard space-based platforms since the early 1980s, Hensley said.
The satellite platforms were deemed desirable because they travel very smooth paths through space, without the disturbance experienced in aircraft caused by movement through the atmosphere, he said.
Additional technology was needed in order to compensate for that disturbance.
The aircraft-mounted pod is an improvement over existing space-based radar collecting similar measurements in that it allows for repeated measurements within a smaller time frame. A radar on a satellite is able to make a pass over the same area only every 24 to 46 days, Hensley said.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
There is a surface map of the entire continental USA on my wall done with SAR. Must be 20 years old.
It’s a conspiracy. They’re looking for the money I buried in fruit jars. Come to think of it I’m not quite sure where I buried it myself.
If I were Michael Moore, I'd be worried - very worried. They could easily track his footsteps with an order of magnitude less sensitivity...
I wonder how it would do on tunnels near the border?
Or nuclear weapon development sites in desert terrain?
They used to fly a fancy radar “to look for ancient riverbeds and the sites of ancient cities under the shifting sands” in the middle east, but they lost it on one of the two disasters.
Looks like they are back in business, good, we need it right bout now.
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