How Does NASA’s Radar Work?

Without a doubt, NASA has been a leader in innovative technology, primarily revolving around space travel.  One example of their incredible advancements is their radar technology which has evolved tremendously over the years, nowadays being highly futuristic and capable of recording information once believed to be impossible to uncover.  The manner in which they utilize and engineer radars shows why NASA is the leader in the industry, and why so many have faith that they can continue to do the impossible for years to come.

What is a Radar?

A radar is a system revolving around a transmitter that emits signals based on radio waves in designated directions in an effort to detect not only the presence of objects, but their velocity, angle and range.  On Earth, radar technology is used to detect the presence of ships on a sea, of vehicles in the sky and weather formations, along with terrain.

In space, radars are used in order to detect space objects, and is one of the only reliable means for doing so.  A radar saves enormous time and effort that would go to manually tracking and detecting objects, by not only finding them within seconds, but determining their features so that this information can be recorded.  Radars used in space can be critical, as they can detect meteors and other space objects that are a potential threat to Earth.

How Has NASA Advanced Radar Technology?

NASA has relied heavily on radar technology for quite some time, as it’s the bread and butter of their operations nowadays, aside from the missions that we track enthusiastically.  Easily, one of their most exciting radars is the Cassini radar, which goes so far as to provide us with image maps of space objects and terrain in the galaxy.

Cassini’s radar was initially developed to study Titan, which is Saturn’s moon, as its atmosphere is so thick that studying its surface had been practically impossible.  The radar bounces radio waves onto surfaces, and the time it takes for the waves to return indicates the depth of the surface.  This allows technology to paint an accurate portrait of terrain that gives us enormous clues into space objects in general.  It can record incredible detail, including the smoothness of the landscape and the general density of the materials as well.  Because of Cassini, we now know what Titan looks like, despite having no actual recorded images.

Cassini’s radar was first launched in 2004, and was the first piece of technology of its kind, as up until that point, NASA had to rely on telescopes and designated space missions which required the recording of information by man, using the naked eye.

Another fascinating feature of this radar is its ability to determine temperature, which has given us amazing information regarding the temperatures of various space objects, including Titan itself.  We are therefore able to better determine the individual climates of bodies in space, which can help us understand more about our galaxy and how it relates to our own planet.

Other Radar Technology Used by NASA

NASA’s radar technology generally relates to space exploration, but that’s not all it can be used for.  Currently, they’re developing a radar that can be used for rescue missions in order to detect damaged or lost vehicles that cannot be found using non-radar means.  This could benefit society as a whole, as this technology could be implemented for aircraft, ships and even standard motor vehicles.

This is part of NASA’s Search and Rescue Mission Office, that is tasked with developing new means for locating missing vehicular objects.  It borrows from Cassini’s radar in terms of the incredibly advanced means it uses to detect and locate. 

And, moving back to the space front, it’s clear that NASA will continue to implement and push the boundaries of radar technology in order to learn more about space, as this radar system can give us valuable information about just about every object in the galaxy, including stars, planets, meteors and even our own moon.

Summary

Radar technology has been around for a long time, but NASA has taken it to new heights in order to learn more about space, in ways that can both directly and indirectly benefit humanity overall.  Over the next several years, we expect radar technology to advance even further as NASA has the resources to make this possible.