NASA to test new airborne radar systems
The U.S. space agency says it plans a test of two new airborne radar systems that can help monitor climate change by imaging ice sheet movements.
Scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Dryden Flight Research Center will depart Friday for Greenland and Iceland on a modified NASA Gulfstream III aircraft. In a pod beneath the aircraft's fuselage will be two JPL-developed radars designed as evaluating tools and technologies for future space-based radars.
One of the radars, the L-band wavelength Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, calibrates and supplements satellite data, NASA said. The other is a proof-of-concept Ka-band wavelength radar called the Glacier and Land Ice Surface Topography Interferometer.
Both radars use microwave energy pulses to produce images of Earth's surface topography and deformations in it. UAVSAR detects and measures the flow of glaciers and ice sheets, as well as subtle changes caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and other dynamic phenomena. GLISTIN will create high-resolution maps of ice surface topography, which NASA said are key to understanding the stresses that drive changes in glacial regions.
During the two-month expedition, UAVSAR will study the flow of Greenland's and Iceland's glaciers and ice streams, and GLISTIN will map Greenland's icy surface topography. NASA said about 97,000 square miles of land will be mapped during 110 hours of data collection.
UPI
- Hot Pictures of Paris Hilton Nude
- YouTube wins in the lawsuit with Ronaldo's ex-wife
- Windows Vista Kit Box Opened
- Newborn child may turn into 80-year-old person within one year
- How comes naked Paris Hilton on Windows exploits?
- Justin Timberlake finds new singers on YouTube
- Sony Vaio overheating: replacing or cleaning cooling fan
- August 27, 2009: Red Planet is about to be spectacular?
- `The Simpsons' proclaim Vermont's Springfield official hometown
- Watch Snoop Dogg TV!