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Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Data
SubtleNuance writes: "This story on Canada.com describes the mission and results of NASA's recent flight to map Earth. The Shuttle trip has provided the most detailed 3D photos of Earth ever released." Some of the images are just astounding. Too bad most of the data isn't available yet.
Read from Janes Defense: Space mission yields navigation 'breakthrough' BRYAN BENDER JDW Bureau Chief Washington DC The US Navy (USN) plans to equip its Tactical Tomahawk land attack cruise missile with what it expects to be a "breakthrough" weapons navigation system that utilises detailed digital terrain data collected during a recent Space Shuttle mission to improve accuracy and reliability. The USN has allocated nearly $20 million over the next three years for the "rapid introduction" into the Tactical Tomahawk missile of Precision Terrain-Aided Navigation (PTAN), which provides a "compelling opportunity to reap a large technology breakthrough for accurate navigation", according to navy documents. Officials have rated the introduction of the PTAN system into Tactical Tomahawk, currently under development by Raytheon for an initial operational capability in 2003, as the programme's "first priority technology improvement", according to the documents. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) 11-day Shuttle Radar Topography Mission last year aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor was sponsored by the Department of Defense and intended to provide detailed digital terrain data for use in, among other disciplines, precision weapons targeting (Jane's Defence Weekly 8 September 1999). Using two radar systems, the shuttle crew mapped 80% of the earth's land surface, between 60 north and 56 south latitude, at a resolution of 30m. This new data, according to the documents, "enables the rapid development of high-resolution route maps that will allow for development of automatic route planning tools for air-vehicle navigation". Coupling the digital route maps with precision radar altimeters will allow airborne platforms to accurately navigate to a pre-planned target area. According to a senior USN official, the PTAN will complement the Tomahawk's current navigation system, consisting of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, an inertial navigation system and a Digital Scene Mapping and Correlation camera, which relies on terrain images with much less resolution than the database recently generated by NASA. The USN believes the PTAN enhancement is necessary in the face of new jamming techniques that can block or degrade the highly accurate GPS satellite navigation signals. "This new capability overcomes the GPS jamming and spoofing threats that are anticipated to emerge in the near term." According to the navy, $2 million will be spent on the effort for the rest of this year, $11 million in Fiscal Year 2001 (FY01) and $6.2 million in FY02. The service intends to spend an additional $21 million in FY03 through FY05. The USN hopes to conduct the first test of the PTAN system on a missile surrogate in FY03.
This post is an adequacy.org post, and the copious links to unrelated, self-aggrandizing articles with bizzarro articles stating how the best astronauts were gay, and how pornography is a liberal plot.
Please, other moderators, check the links before you mod.
This dramatic view looks west along the Cucharas River Canyon in Colorado toward the 4,152 meter (13,623 ft) high Spanish Peaks, in the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. The Peaks are the remnants of a 20-million year old volcano. Rising 2,100 meters (7,000 ft) above the plains to the east, these igneous rock formations with intrusions of eroded sedimentary rock historically served as guiding landmarks for travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail.
The above paragraph is the best possible argument for NASA to hire more earth scientists when they do earth science, such as the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. They casually mention a whacking big mystery--sedimentary rocks seen intruding igneous rocks--and then leave us hanging. How did those sedimentary rocks do that?
Usually, sediments stack themselves on top of what's already there, instead of sticking themselves into the existing rock in an intrusive manner. Sediment becomes a candidate for rockhood when the force moving it along goes away. The wind falls, the streams slow down, the ocean dries up. Mineral grains lie down and rise no more.
So if these sediments really got a volcano to bend over and be intruded, they were motivated by an unknown geologic force. Was it lust? Lust between consenting rock bodies has not been found to leave a distinguishable trace. But rock bodies can radiate sex appeal. French trappers saw mountains and canyons as giant erotic apparitions, and gave their lovesick hallucinations names which remain French because it won't do to translate them on public road signs. Perhaps these sediments saw the firm, youthful Spanish Peaks in the same rosy light--they look pretty good in rosy light, I can tell you--and before you knew it, innocence had become experienced. These unique sedimentary rocks deserve further study, for which I offer my services to NASA.
maqbroom
geologist
Note: They're talking about the remarkable dikes which tower over Colorado state highway 12 south of La Veta. Although these rocks look just like sedimentary rocks (vertical sheets and stacks of sheets), they're of igneous origin. As the Spanish Peaks volcano grew in size 20 million years ago, the buoyant magma body below was covered by cubic miles of rock. The magma had not changed its elevation relative to sea level, but the deeper burial now made it more buoyant than when it first arrived near the surface. It was like a beach ball forced under water--the magma would return to its level, rising into the volcanic pile. The volcano, made of loose material and lava flows, cracked in a star pattern--as big, composite round things do when something else big and roundish intrudes it from below. Molten rock followed the cracks, freezing into vertical sheets. That's the impressive rock walls you see over the highway. Worth a side trip.
For a topographic map, go to http://www.topozone.com and enter La Veta, CO on their "Get a Map" page. Choose the "large" map format, and click on the arrow pointing south to see the highway route around the Spanish Peaks.
I just LOVE vladinator's site! Especially the "fash" section, where I learned to cut the bottom off of an old shirt to use as a hair enhancement! Oh, and the "dance party" photos!
Of course, don't forget to read vladinator's emails! Here you will discover how truly difficult it is to decide what to do on the weekends... have a pizza party? A fash party? Go to the mall with all of your friends? Have a sleepover and call boys on the phone?
In short, if you haven't checked out vladinator's site, you don't know what you're missing!
if you look a little more carefully you will see that all but one blank spot (central/north carolina) are at the intersections of the bright green (2 pass) lines...its just the way the SRTM orbited. you can also see a tiny unscanned point on the coast of surinam(?).
My cat's breath smells like cat food.--R. Wiggums
I just LOVE vladinator's site! Especially the "fash" section, where I learned to cut the bottom off of an old shirt to use as a hair enhancement! Oh, and the "dance party" photos!
Of course, don't forget to read vladinator's emails! Here you will discover how truly difficult it is to decide what to do on the weekends... have a pizza party? A fash party? Go to the mall with all of your friends? Have a sleepover and call boys on the phone?
In short, if you haven't checked out vladinator's site, you don't know what you're missing!
is *completely* irrelevant
Certainly the DEM could have a higher spatial resolution, but the images that were referenced in the article are all 30m Landsat. I was simply pointing out (and obviously didn't do it well) that the demo data everyone was seeing in the references was no better than the lowest resolution data used to create the pretty pictures.
However, the data products page (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/dataproducts.html) indicates that, "the final released SRTM DEM will be at 30 meters for the U.S. and at 90 meters for the rest of the world." The SRTM interferometer may be capable of a higher resolution, but those of us in the public sector won't be seeing that data anytime soon...
NULL
From Jane's Defense Weekly .... this much improve topo data will form the basis of a new advance terrain guidance for the Tactical Tomahawk Cruise missile under development. This will bypass the need for the current GPS guidance used which are susceptible to jamming.
You were curious what the resoultion was so I'm posting a link http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/datafinaldescriptions .html
"The absolute horizontal accuracy (90% Circular Error) is 20 meters.
The absolute vertical accuracy (90% Linear Error) is 16 meters. "
I just LOVE vladinator's site! Especially the "fash" section, where I learned to cut the bottom off of an old shirt to use as a hair enhancement! Oh, and the "dance party" photos!
Of course, don't forget to read vladinator's emails! Here you will discover how truly difficult it is to decide what to do on the weekends... have a pizza party? A fash party? Go to the mall with all of your friends? Have a sleepover and call boys on the phone?
In short, if you haven't checked out vladinator's site, you don't know what you're missing!
Very cool site - thx, DESADE. They have a whole bunch of great in-depth sites on different news topics, like the stem cell thing.
The topography pictures are beautiful. I'm wondering if NASA couldn't sell prints to make a little extra cash? I would love to hang an 8x10 of the smog cloud above L.A. on my wall...
They aren't perfect, and more support for private enterprise in space is needed, but NASA is worthy of support.
---
Book(n): Utensil used to pass time while waiting for the TV repairman
With maps like this you could do some very very real full scale simulations of war.
Perhaps the brass might see that all war is futile.
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M
Other than "The map is going to be 100-times better than any other global map that we have," in the article there is no mention of how fine of detail the map goes into. Is it better than the 1 meter resolution of the (now defunct *sigh*) Terraserver?
Still, cool tech.
Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5
here
hi-rez map of the earth... that's gonna be one book that WON'T fit on your coffee table...
I remember reading somewhere a claim that the U.S. once released satellite photos of some geographic features (underground water channels?) as a way to let the Soviets know how good the U.S. surveillence really was. The message: "We know where your missiles are."
:-}
I wonder if there is some message here? Isn't this the kind of data that can be useful for programming cruise missiles and such?
Not to sound too paranoid or anything
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I can see my house from here!
No, not really. But I can see the reindeer pen.
Dancin Santa
When did AYBABTU stop being cool?
k4n++ j00 33n sp311 37337 h4xx0rs r1+3?
on the page http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/datatimeline.html
you'll see the resolution stats from 30m to 1 km
and a side note
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/datacoverage.html Nasa states "Land area missed: 50,000 km2 (all in US)"
ONEPOINT
if you see me, smile and say hello.
> Too bad most of the data isn't available yet.
Is there a rule for Slashdot editors that their comments about good news have to be counter-balancingly negative?
Considering that pilots and guided missiles may make life-and-death decisions based on this data, taking time to make sure it's accurate and properly processed seems like a good idea. If you have an urgent need, I suppose you could ask for 15,000 CDs of raw data, but all the crunched data should be available by the end of 2002.
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, httpd@www-pdsimage.JPL.NASA.GOV and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
karma capped
NASA results on Canada.Com? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.........
Shift happens. Fire it up.
Thats an interesting figure. looking at the map you can see where this "missed land" is:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/images/bin/srtm_covm
Note how even the coverage everywhere else is, yet theres holes over the US. Maybe I'm paranoid but I smell a "don't scan these 6 spots" request from the [insert favorite government TLA here].
I love it:
"Target Name: Earth
Is a satellite of: Sol (our Sun)"
Good evening Professor Falken
A strange game
It seems the only way to win is not to play
How about a nice game of chess?
hopefully this will enable flight simulators to render any spot on the planet, by online access to the database for instance.
Google passes Turing test : see my journal
It's odd that NASA is only now getting around to do with the Earth what they've been doing with Mars for years. (Follow that link for the pretty pictures, if nothing else.
From 1998 to 1999, the Mars Global Surveyor made some 27 million topographical measurements of the red planet. With an average accuracy of 13 meters and sometimes as good as 2 meters. That's not much more than my height.
Of course, having that precision on Earth would be more difficult with our thicker atmosphere and would raise profound privacy issues. On the other hand, government spy satellites probably routinely attain that precision without anyone's batting an eyelash. Maybe it's just as well that a civilian agency get in on the action too.
http://support.visi.com/dsl/codered.html
Of course this doesn't have much to do with NASA's shuttle radar imagery! Except maybe that it can take a while to download one of those full resolution images for maximum viewing :-)
I'd point out that some of the imagery is too good - extremely sharp topographic relief simply cannot be captured in stereo from space (at least not in the shuttle passes) and thus no elevation data for those locations. I also recall that they were not able to image the entire surface of the Earth in stereo as they had hoped.
You all know this is really going to be used for a first strike against China and Russia.
nt
I'll be waiting for an X-Plane junkie to get their hands on the data and make a terrain set out of it.
Beware, Nugget is watching... See?
Do you think those maps will be buyable or downloadable for the rest of us? I mean, it would be very nice that before going hiking, climbing or something else to evalutate the field in real time 3D before.
:-)
A little CGI would make the job, enter the corners coordinates and they shoot you the map
Well, i guess i'm dreaming, but it would so cool!
Okay... it's agreed that linux will never be for anyone... actually, one of the philosophies that linux lives on is that NOTHING is for everyone. However, linux is most certainly not dying. point-for-point: 1) not much of anything, especially anything tech-related has been posting a profitable quarter recently. quoting those kinds of numbers during the current "instability" or whatever you prefer to call it is not going to prove anything. 2) a) the GPL doesn't "force" its license onto "everything [it] comes into contact with". the GPL has a propagation clause that protects freedom, but it also gives people choices on the matter. b) hrm... don't people tend to "attack" things that they're afraid of? also no proof whatsoever. c) It's plenty easy to distribute GPLd software under another license, for the _author_. Authors of GPL'd software generally make it pretty easy to contact them, contrary to what you say. Again, this is a part of the GPL made to ensure freedom. We won't go into the merits of the GPL in every situation here, because d) linux software does NOT have to be GPL'd. 3) a) again, linux will never be for everybody. Linux is about choice. Forcing your software on everybody and denying them choice is a BAD thing. Just ask certain software companies. b) first, linux has pretty decent hardware support, compared to anything but the top few OSs... this is fostered by its GPLness. second, linux IS getting increased notice from hardware developers, up many hundred percent in the past year, or the past 6 months, or the past month. Linux is not dying. far from it. --also known as "hobbs" in some places
This is the first time I've bothered to reply to a comment here, so bear with a few dumb things. 1: s/anyone/everyone on the first line 2: insert
's where I meant them to be. (i.e. where they logically belong)
What's the deal with the stereo images? When I view them the way I normally view stereograms (let my eyes drift out of focus so I can see four images, and then make the middle two overlap), the 3-d image I see is the reverse of what I would expect: The ocean is a flat plane, but mountains and suchlike are depressions in it, receeding in to the background. (as opposed to coming out towards me like I would expect)
Am I missing something here? It's hard to believe they would make such a basic mistake as putting the images the wrong way around (although if you swap them, you do get something that works properly for me), so is there some other way of looking at these things? Is it possible to do naked-eye?
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
Or do all JPL-origined sites appear as though tghey were crafted 5 years ago using LYNX as the intended browsing audience? sheesh!
--
I think you are being paranoid, if those missed spots on the map are accurate.
Looks like Northern Florida...west of King Harbor and Pensacola, central North/South Carolina, southern Minnesota/north Iowa, and the west Texas boarder area.
Nothing fun there. South Central Utah, Colorado and Nevada are the sites that are suspected to be "sensative".
The fact that Landsat data resolution is 30 meters (actually, it varies with sensor and satellite) is *completely* irrelevant. The satellite imagery is simply overlaid over the radar-produced topographic data for visual effect when producing fancy pictures. The topographic data can be and will be of a higher spatial resolution.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/datafinaldescriptions .html
Note the the 30m resolution is for a "seamless" National DEM database. Interpolating (up) to a 30m resolution is intended to correspond to other satellite/digital data already interpolated to this semi-"standard" resolution. Some public data products will (eventually!) be available at a higher spatial resolution. (Frankly, 30m resolution may be overkill for Kansas but hardly sufficient for half of Colorado!)
More information about the potential resolution of this radar data can be found at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/datafinaldescriptions .html