NASA INTERNET SOFTWARE SHOWS PLANETS IN 3-D COLOR
- From: "Ken Kubos" <kubos@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 15:12:56 -0500
John Bluck
May 15, 2006
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026 or 604-9000
e-mail: jbluck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
RELEASE: 06-30AR
NASA INTERNET SOFTWARE SHOWS PLANETS IN 3-D COLOR
NASA recently updated its World Wind computer program that enables
Internet users to explore not only the Earth and the moon, but now
permits Web surfers virtually to fly through huge Mars canyons and
visit Venus and Jupiter in 3-D color.
The new version also allows users to see some of Jupiter's moons, and
to cruise into the depths of Earth's oceans. The newly revised, free
program is available on the Web at:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov
"The users -- from the comfort of their own homes -- can visit
anyplace on Earth, Mars and other places in the solar system," said
Chris Maxwell, lead World Wind developer at NASA Ames Research
Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. "All you need is (a)
standard personal computer (PC) with a decent video card, and a
decent Internet connection."
More than 10 million users have used World Wind since NASA first
released it about a year ago. "Well over 100,000 new users download
the program each week from all over the planet," said Patrick Hogan,
program manager for World Wind at NASA Ames.
The program itself is only five megabytes, but data containing place
names and imagery make up the rest of the 50-megabyte World Wind
download, according to Hogan. A version written in the Java computer
language that will run on Macintosh and Linux computers is scheduled
for release in September 2006, Hogan noted.
"NASA is providing the free World Wind program to improve public and
researcher access to high-quality imagery and other data," said Hogan.
In the future, the planetary imagery will give users the chance to
explore not only the moon, Mars, Venus and Jupiter, but also other
planets when additional data sets become available.
The computer program can 'transport' Web users to just about anywhere
on the moon, when they zoom in from a global view to closer pictures
of our natural satellite taken by the Clementine spacecraft in the
1990s.
"We can . . . (now) deliver the moon at 66 feet (20 meters) of
resolution," Hogan said.
Launched in early 1994, Clementine took 1.8 million pictures of the
lunar surface during a two-month orbit of the moon. The Ballistic
Missile Defense Organization and NASA jointly sponsored the Deep
Space Program Science Experiment that included the Clementine
spacecraft. Its principal objective was to 'space-qualify'
lightweight imaging sensors and component technologies for the next
generation of Department of Defense spacecraft.
The program enables users to better understand Earth processes such
as changing ozone conditions, ocean temperature, weather and
earthquake activity.
"We're working with the United States Geological Survey and the
Department of Defense to deliver their data to the public," Hogan
said. According to Hogan, the Department of Defense itself is using
World Wind software, and the National Guard plans to make use of the
software to help respond to natural disasters.
NASA processes almost 10 million requests for World Wind imagery
daily. The program is delivering terabytes of global NASA satellite
data that are a result of years of daily observations of
precipitation, temperature, barometric pressure and much more.
Hurricane Katrina data are part of World Wind's collection of images.
NASA programmers recently have increased the resolution of images of
Earth from 3,281-foot (one-kilometer) resolution to 1,640-foot
(500-meter) resolution in an upgrade called 'Blue Marble, Next
Generation Earth.' Also, some World Wind data sets include images of
the entire Earth at 49-foot (15-meter) resolution. World Wind
accesses public domain United States Geological Survey aerial
photography and topographic maps as well as Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission and Landsat satellite data.
Computer users from more than 100 nations have acquired the free
World Wind program, though most users are from the United States.
-end-
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--
Ken
"Buddhism elucidates why we are sentient."
"Karma means that you don't get away with anything."
.
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