The World Looks Better With JPL Map
sing the tile expertise of the Cartographic
Applications Lab at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the National
Geographic Society now possesses a digital satellite image map of the
world that can be used in numerous ways to support stunning and exciting
visualizations for television and the regional and global maps of the
society's Mapping Division. JPL was a pioneer in the area of digital imaging
to produce striking images from space exploration.
The JPL Technology Affiliates Program put the National Geographic Society in touch with JPL's Cartographic Applications Lab. Dr. Nevin Bryant of JPL and his group used more than 500 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellite images acquired over the past 10 years by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument. This instrument, first developed at JPL in 1965 and continuously refined over the years, consists of an across-track scanner that covers a 1,500-kilometer swath along its orbit track. However, this broad swath is at 1-kilometer resolution (or better) only for the center half of each scene, degrading to as much as 6.5 kilometers per pixel at the scan edges.
Except for the center, most of the frame of each picture was thrown out. To obtain cloud-free imagery, twice as many passes were used, resulting in images in the early morning and mid-afternoon. JPL used 10-bit data to provide 1,024 discrete levels of gradations for a higher resolution picture. This greater information allows for the discernment of subtle features in either the rain forests of South America, the icy domes of Nepal or the deserts of the Sahara.
While others have prepared global AVHRR mosaics in recent years, JPL has introduced several innovative processing steps to the preparation of this global mosaic for National Geographicmagazine. Using specialized software, formulas and expertise gained from producing images from space, JPL was able to produce a world map that meets the demanding criteria of National Geographic's photographic and visual standards. As a result of these innovations, the National Geographicglobal land area mosaic is the highest resolution and most consistent representation to actual natural colors yet available.
The National Geographic Society is the world's largest nonprofit and educational institution in the world, supporting scientific research, exploration and geography education. The society will be offering a free world map as part of their 1998 membership drive and will make available a free world map to any school across the nation. Now, with JPL's assistance, the world never looked so good.
For more information, contact Alice Wessen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Call (818) 354-4930, Fax: (818) 393-4093, E-mail: Alice.S.Wessen@jpl.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
Dr. Dan Carter, president of New Century Pharmaceuticals, examines a chamber of protein solutions prepared for the flight to the Mir space station, as he and his team, Dr. Joseph Ho and Dr. John Ruble, work with NASA to understand a virus that infects nearly 4 million U.S. children ages 1 to 5 every year.
Researchers Closer to Deadly Virus Treatment
joint
research effort by government and industry, sponsored by the Microgravity
Research Program's Biotechnology Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center, has taken an important step toward developing a treatment for
a life-threatening virus that causes pneumonia and severe upper respiratory
infection in infants and young children. Biotechnology researchers have
developed an antibody, which aids the individual's immune system by neutralizing
toxins as they attempt to invade healthy cells. Knowledge of the antibody's
molecular structure will permit scientists to understand key interactions
between the antibody and virus, facilitating the development of treatments
for the disease. The infection, called Respiratory Syncytial Virus, attacks
the respiratory airways and lungs. The research team used the disease's
viral antibody to grow antibody crystals aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia
in 1997. Using specialized x-ray equipment and computers, scientists
at New Century Pharmaceuticals in Huntsville, Alabama, located the key
positions of individual atoms in the crystal structure and constructed
a model of the antibody. The antibodies grew larger in the weightless
environment and were of better quality than those previously grown on
Earth. Because of the increased size, researchers were able to get a better
look at each antibody's smallest parts to more precisely determine its
structure.
For more information, contact Steve Roy at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Call (256) 544-6535, E-mail: steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
