Contact | Previous Issues | Articles-by-Author

Imaging

Dec 2024 | No Comment

Lidar helps uncover lost Mayan city

Using laser-guided imaging to peer through dense jungle forests, Tulane University researchers have uncovered vast unexplored Maya settlements in Mexico and a better understanding of the ancient civilization’s extent and complexity.

The new research, published in the journal Antiquity, was led by Tulane University anthropology doctoral student Luke Auld-Thomas and his advisor, Professor Marcello A. Canuto.

The team used lidar, a laser-based detection system, to survey 50 square miles of land in Campeche, Mexico, an area largely overlooked by archaeologists. Their findings included evidence of more than 6,500 preHispanic structures, including a previously unknown large city complete with iconic stone pyramids.

“Our analysis not only revealed a picture of a region that was dense with settlements, but it also revealed a lot of variability,” said Auld-Thomas, a doctoral student in Tulane’s Anthropology Department and instructor at Northern Arizona University. “We didn’t just find rural areas and smaller settlements. We also found a large city with pyramids right next to the area’s only highway, near a town where people have been actively farming among the ruins for years. The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it. That really puts an exclamation point behind the statement that, no, we have not found everything, and yes, there’s a lot more to be discovered.”

The Middle American Research Institute (MARI) at Tulane University has been pioneering the use of lidar technology in archaeological research. Over the past decade, MARI has built a state-of-the-art GIS lab, to analyze remote sensing data, such as lidar. The lab is managed by Francisco Estrada-Belli, a research professor in Tulane’s Department of Anthropology.

Lidar technology uses laser pulses to measure distances and create three-dimensional models of specific areas. It has allowed scientists to scan large swaths of land from the comfort of a computer lab, uncovering anomalies in the landscape that often prove to be pyramids, family houses and other examples of Maya infrastructure.

This research may also help resolve ongoing debates about the true extent of Maya settlements.

The study highlights the transformative power of lidar technology in unveiling the secrets of ancient civilizations. It also provides compelling evidence of a more complex and varied Maya landscape than previously thought. https://news.tulane.edu

Russian rocket launches Iranian satellites

A Russian rocket blasted off successfully to carry a pair of Iranian satellites into orbit, a launch that reflected growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.

The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled from Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia and put its payload into a designated orbit nine minutes after the launch. It was carrying two Russian Ionosphere-M Earth observation satellites and several dozen smaller satellites, including the two Iranian ones. Iran’s two satellites, named Kowsar and Hodhod, were the first launched on behalf of the country’s private sector. In 2022, a Russian rocket launched an Iranian Earth observation satellite called Khayyam that was built in Russia on Tehran’s order, and in February Russia put another Iranian satellite named Pars-1 into orbit. apnews.com

China launches new group of remote-sensing satellites

China successfully sent a new group of remote-sensing satellites into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on November 9, 2024.

The four satellites of PIESAT-2 were launched at 11:39 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-2C carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit successfully. They will mainly provide commercial remote-sensing data services.

Microsatellite Project to Monitor Objects in Space Over Canada, South Pole – Brantford Expositor

An exciting new satellite project to monitor and protect the Earth’s orbital environment is underway. University of Manitoba (UM) and Magellan Aerospace (Magellan), in collaboration with Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) science and technology organization, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), and the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), are working together to make it a reality.

Magellan and UM, both based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, are currently partnered on the DND-funded Redwing space domain awareness microsatellite project. Redwing is a research and development (R&D) microsatellite valued at $15.8 million, that is being designed, built, and operated in Canada. Redwing will monitor objects orbiting Earth to help reduce future risks to Canada’s space infrastructure from space debris or human-caused interference. Magellan is responsible for designing, building, and testing the Redwing spacecraft as well as for mission operations. Other Redwing mission partners include ABB Inc (main optical payload), C-CORE (operations support), as well as York University and UM (R&D support) In April 2024, Canada’s DND signed a contract option with Magellan for $900,000 to add a companion nanosatellite to the Redwing mission. The nanosatellite, known as Little Innovator in Space Situational Awareness (LISSA), will be integrated with the Redwing satellite and will be deployed from Redwing sometime after launch, once the two spacecraft have achieved an orbit at the designated altitude.

Leveraging the expertise provided by Ferguson and UM’s STARLab, Magellan is contracting the design and build of LISSA with UM. LISSA will follow in the same orbit as Redwing, operating some distance from it in a tandem in-track formation. In addition to performing its own observations, LISSA will serve as a convenient nearby object with which to exercise Redwing’s own monitoring and imaging capabilities.

LISSA will focus on observing satellites as they pass over the Earth’s South Pole, a region that is not well-covered by ground-based space surveillance sensors. Reflected light from ice and clouds during the Antarctic summer presents a significant technical challenge when imaging other space objects in visible light. For this reason, the UK’s Dstl is providing a short-wave infrared camera to be hosted on the LISSA nanosatellite, which will be less impacted by light scattered from the ice sheet. Also, many satellite materials are more reflective in the short-wave infrared increasing the likelihood of detecting them.

Both Redwing and LISSA are expected to launch in 2027. Both satellites will be operated by Magellan with support from UM’s STARLab, communicating through ground antenna stations owned by C-CORE in Inuvik, Northwest Territories and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. Mission data will be analyzed by DRDC and Dstl. https://nationtalk.ca

Snow returns to Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, has seen its first snowfall after one of the longest periods without snow since records began 130 years ago.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this image of Mount Fuji’s iconic snowcap on Nov. 7, 2024, a day after snow was first spotted by the Japan Mereological Agency’s Shizuoka branch.

Sentinel-2 carries a high-resolution multispectral imager to deliver optical images from the visible to the shortwave-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.