Week in Geek - 3D Earth
Appalachen, Pennsylvania, USA as viewed topologically from space. Credit: DLR
My weekly post for The Rachel Maddow Show.
Week in Geek: 3D Earth edition
The German Aerospace Center (aka DLR, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) has just released a 3D map of Earth as part of the TanDEM-X satellite mission.
TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) is one of two twin German radar satellites in Low-Earth orbit. It flies in formation TerraSAR-X about 250-500 meters apart and the distance between the satellites is known to within one millimeter. The resulting stereo measurements have allowed DLR to create a digital elevation map of Earth’s surface accurate to one meter. That means the satellites can detect a change of 0.0002% in elevation!
Also features: coral reefs, bite marks, self-driving cars, and Luke Cage.
Read the full article here.
