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July 11, 2002
Seeing Clearly Now: Sharp New NASA Maps to Improve Lives Everywhere
People around the world will soon get to
see their home planet in an entirely new
way, as NASA extends the release of
detailed topographical maps collected during
the 2000 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
beyond U.S. borders to the rest of the globe.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., manages the mission for
NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.
NASA and the National Imagery and
Mapping Agency, partners in the shuttle
mapping mission, agreed this week on a
policy to provide 90-meter (295-foot)
resolution digital-elevation mission data from
sites outside the United States to qualified
researchers. Selected data will
simultaneously become available to the
public. The two agencies also this week
made public the mission's research-quality
30-meter (98-foot) resolution topographic data for the entire continental United States.
National Imagery and Mapping Agency Director James R. Clapper and NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe signed the agreement yesterday at NASA Headquarters,
Washington, D.C.
"Americans take for granted the quality of U.S. topographic maps, but for millions of
people around the world, particularly those in the frequently cloud-covered equatorial
regions, the elevation maps created with these data will be ten times more precise than the
best available today," Administrator O'Keefe said. "That kind of improvement will lead to
significant advancements in aviation safety and mitigation of natural hazards, and to smarter
and more sustainable urban development, to name but a few applications."
"The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
is one of the best geospatial collection tools
not only in the National Imagery and
Mapping Agency's experience, but in the
history of mapping," said Clapper. "This
mission helps meet our strategic goal of
providing the best geospatial information to
our customers.
"For commercial and civil applications,
the improved data is likely to find many uses
that will save lives and enhance economic
development around the world. Our team
effort with NASA is a shining example of how
we can adapt available technology, in
partnership with other federal agencies and
civilian contractors, to get world-class
information."
The practical benefits of space-based synthetic-aperture radar data, which can see
through clouds and provide researchers with terrain data of exceptional quality, can be
applied to uses as diverse as flood plain mapping and location of cellular telephone towers
in mountainous regions.
"Take aviation safety, for example. Today, more than 60 percent of fatal aviation
accidents involve controlled flight into terrain due to poor visibility. By combining Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission and Global Positioning System data, we can create a global
terrain database and high-fidelity cockpit visualizations that will virtually display surrounding
terrain, even in conditions of darkness or clouds. NASA is working with the Federal Aviation
Administration, the aviation industry and the Department of Defense to develop these
technologies, which promise to significantly reduce the aviation accident rate worldwide,"
said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, associate administrator for earth science, NASA Headquarters.
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data are being processed at JPL into
research-quality digital-elevation models, one continent at a time. When each continent is
completed, the data will be sent to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency for additional
finishing and then to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems
Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., for final archiving and distribution.
NASA is processing mission data for research purposes in response to requests from
NASA principal investigators and other qualified scientists. Under the terms of the new
agreement, researchers will submit their requests for international topography data to
NASA/JPL. The requests will be reviewed by NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping
Agency, and the data will be released either for use by the approved researchers or for
broad public access. Decisions on how data will be released will be made on a case-by-case
basis.
NASA began processing mission data in April 2002 and expects to have all mission
data processed and delivered to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency by the end of
this year. All international 90-meter (295-foot) resolution data is expected to be available to
the public no later than two years after JPL makes its final data delivery.
Still in discussion is a release policy for international 30-meter (98-foot) resolution
measurements. However, at the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's discretion, some
30-meter resolution international data may be made available in special situations in which
the information can help protect life and property, such as during volcanic eruptions and
floods; NASA, however, will have access to such data for its sponsored scientific research.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (Feb. 11-22, 2000) made 3-D measurements of
more than 80 percent of Earth's landmass between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south
of the equator, areas home to nearly 95 percent of the world's population.
Examples of how images created with Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data compare
with the best previously available global digital elevation data are available at:
For more information on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, visit:
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena.
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Contacts:
JPL/Carolina Martinez (818) 354-9382
NASA Headquarters/David E. Steitz (202) 358-1730
NIMA/Eric Berryman (301) 227-3132
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National Imagery and Mapping Agency Director James R. Clapper (left) and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe (right) sign the SRTM agreement.
These two images show exactly the same area, Kerguelen Island in the southern Indian Ocean. The image on the top was created using the best global topographic data set previously available,
the U.S. Geological Survey's GTOPO30. In contrast, the much more detailed image on the bottom was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, which collected enough
measurements to map 80 percent of Earth's landmass at this level of precision.
For some parts of the globe, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission measurements are 30 times more precise than previously available topographical information, according to NASA scientists.
Mission data will be a welcome resource for national and local governments, scientists, commercial enterprises, and members of the public alike. The applications are as diverse as earthquake and
volcano studies, flood control, transportation, urban and regional planning, aviation, recreation, and communications. The data's military applications include mission planning and rehearsal,
modeling, and simulation.
Elevation data used in this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. The mission used the same radar
instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on Endeavour in 1994. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
was designed to collect 3-D measurements of Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas,
and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and
the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/NIMA
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