Photo Identification P-44742
October 8, 1994
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
This image was produced during radar observations taken by the Spaceborne
Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar as it flew over the Gulf
Stream, Florida, and past the Atlantic Ocean on October 7, 1994. The data were
produced using the X-band radar frequency. Knowing ahead of time that this
region would be included in a regularly scheduled radar pass, the Kennedy Space
Center team, who assembled and integrated the SIR-C/X-SAR equipment with the
Spacelab pallet system, designed a set of radar reflectors from common
construction materials and formed the letters "KSC" on the ground adjacent to
the main headquarters building at the entrance to the Cape Canaveral launch
facility. The point of light formed by the bright return from these reflectors
are visible in the image. Other more diffuse bright spots are reflections from
building faces, roofs and other large structures at the Kennedy Space Center
complex. This frame covers an area of approximately 6 kilometers by 8
kilometers (4 miles by 5 miles), which was just a small portion of the data
taken on this particular pass.-----Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet
Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed
observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions.
SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm)
and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international
scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is
changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies,
will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which
are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity.
SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by
the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche
Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency,
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft
und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data
processing of X-SAR.
![[KENNEDY SPACE CENTER]](KSC.GIF)