A 3-D map of the world

Mountain iIew 22 Feb 00 SGI computers will transform nearly 1 trillion measurements recorded by Shuttle Endeavor into the most detailed 3D topographic map of Earth ever made. Once complete, the map of Earth will have numerous scientific, commercial and military uses such as disaster relief, agriculture, city planning, mineral exploration and military planning.

The project is called the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and is a cooperative effort between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and the German (DLR) and Italian (ASI) space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

Space Shuttle Endeavor rocketed skyward last Friday for an 11-day mission to scan all land surfaces that lay between 60 degrees north latitude and 54 degrees south latitude - more than 80 percent of the Earth's land surface-using special radar. Through a process called interferometry, C-Band radar echoes are converted into digital data (0s and 1s) and stored for later processing. During its mission, Endeavor will gather approximately 9.8 terabytes of raw data that will be stored on 300 high-density digital tapes (equivalent to about 15,000 CDs). Upon Endeavor's return, the C-Band radar data will be processed at JPL on powerful SGI Origin systems using a method called mosaicking to generate a spectacular three-dimensional image of Earth.

Ad Emmen

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