Angkor, Cambodia
This is an image of the area around the city of Angkor,
Cambodia. The city houses an ancient complex of more than
60 temples dating back to the 9th century. The principal
complex, Angkor Wat, is the bright square just left of the
center of the image. It is surrounded by a reservoir that
appears in this image as a thick black line. The larger
bright square above Angkor Wat is another temple complex
called Angkor Thom. Archeologists studying this image
believe the blue-purple area slightly north of Angkor Thom
may be previously undiscovered structures. In the lower
right is a bright rectangle surrounded by a dark reservoir,
which houses the temple complex Chau Srei Vibol. In its
heyday, Angkor had a population of 1 million residents and
was the spiritual center for the Khmer people until it was
abandoned in the 15th century. The image was acquired by
the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) on the 15th orbit of the space shuttle
Endeavour on September 30, 1994. The image shows an area
approximately 55 kilometers by 85 kilometers (34 miles by 53
miles) that is centered at 13.43 degrees north latitude and
103.9 degrees east longitude. The colors in this image were
obtained using the following radar channels: red represents
the L-band (horizontally transmitted and received); green
represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and
vertically received); blue represents the C-band
(horizontally transmitted and vertically received). The
body of water in the south-southwest corner is Tonle Sap,
Cambodia's great central lake. The urban area at the lower
left of the image is the present-day town of Siem Reap. The
adjoining lines are both modern and ancient roads and the
remains of Angkor's vast canal system that was used for both
irrigation and transportation. The large black rectangles
are ancient reservoirs. Today the Angkor complex is hidden
beneath a dense rainforest canopy, making it difficult for
researchers on the ground to study the ancient city. The
SIR-C/X-SAR data are being used by archaeologists at the
World Monuments Fund and the Royal Angkor Foundation to
understand how the city grew, flourished and later fell into
disuse over an 800-year period. The data are also being
used to help reconstruct the vast system of hydrological
works, canals and reservoirs, which have gone out of use
over time. Research teams from more than 11 countries will
be using this data to study the Angkor complex. P-45156
Angkor, Cambodia
February 7, 1995
Images from the international Space Radar Laboratory may
help researchers find previously unknown settlements near the
ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia.
The radar data were obtained during the October 1994 flight
of the space shuttle Endeavour, processed and then sent in
January to the World Monuments Fund in New York City. The group
had approached the radar science team about observing the Angkor
area after the Space Radar Laboratory's first flight in April
1994.
"I had read about the radar mission while the April mission
was in progress and instantly surmised that it would have
applications to the international research efforts at Angkor,"
said John Stubbs, program director of the World Monuments Fund.
"I didn't really know where to start, but I was hopeful NASA
would be willing to image the area around Angkor."
Angkor is a vast complex of more than 60 temples dating back
to the 9th century that served as the spiritual center for the
Khmer people. In its heyday the city housed a population of
about 1 million people and was supported by a massive
hydrological system of reservoirs and canals.
The April 1994 flight of the Space Radar Laboratory's
complementary radars -- the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) -- first demonstrated
their capability to obtain vast amounts of data that could be
used to advance many disciplines, including ecological,
oceanographic, geologic and agricultural investigations.
"We realized after the huge success of the first flight that
we could be more flexible in
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Updated 03/30/95
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