Feb 12 1998
From The Space Library
Elizabeth H. Moore, Head of the Art and Archaeology Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London, and Anthony Freeman, a radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), discussed new radar imagery of Angkor, Cambodia, during a press briefing at JPL. The researchers announced that the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR), developed by JPL to produce radar maps, had helped them to detect and locate a distribution of prehistoric mounds and undocumented temples to the northwest of Angkor. The three-dimensional maps, created using radar interferometry, revealed evidence of temples and earlier civilization that were absent or incorrectly marked on modern topographic maps and early twentieth-century archaeological reports. These discoveries brought into question long-standing ideas about the urban evolution of Angkor. The 1996 AIRSAR Pacific Rim Deployment on board a NASA DC-8 jet was a follow-up to a 1994 study of Angkor that used Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) on board Space Shuttle Endeavour during Mission STS-59, producing the radar images used to create the three-dimensional maps. Unlike SIR-C/X-SAR, AIRSAR had P-band with a longer wavelength, able to penetrate the forest canopy. AIRSAR also flew in a mode that allowed it to measure topography and create three-dimensional images of the surface.
As part of the Small Business Innovation Research Program, NASA officials chose more than 300 research proposals to share US$23 million in funding. Out of 28 award categories, 21 focused on space-based applications, such as achieving routine space travel, exploring and settling the solar system, and developing new technologies in astrobiology. The range of topics indicated that research associated with high-profile space transportation and exploration efforts, curtailed because of cuts in NASA's 1999 budget, would continue on a smaller scale.
The Voyager 1 spacecraft became the most distant human-made object in space, at 6.5 billion miles (11 billion kilometers) from Earth. At 2:10 p.m. (PST), the Voyager 1 spacecraft surpassed the distance of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which was traveling in the opposite direction. Voyager's signal took 9.5 hours to reach Earth. The spacecraft had to rely on radioisotope thermal electric generators, because at the far edge of the solar system, very little solar power was able to reach it at that distance, the Sun is only 1/5,000th as bright as it is on Earth. Edward C. Stone, a Voyager scientist and Director of NASA's JPL, remarked, "the fact that the spacecraft is still returning data is a remarkable technical achievement." NASA had launched Voyager 1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 5 September 1977.
Wesley T. Huntress Jr. announced that he would resign from NASA in the near future. As NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, Huntress had been responsible for programs in astrophysics, planetary exploration, and space physics. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin credited him with the revitalization of NASA's Space Science Enterprise, in particular, with overseeing critical components of the program such as the HST and Mars Pathfinder. Huntress had joined NASA's JPL in the 1960s, a research scientist specializing in ion chemistry and planetary atmospheres, and NASA had appointed Huntress to head the Office of Space Science in March 1993. In his retirement announcement, Huntress stated, "I have served in this position for more than five years now and it is simply time to move on.
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