Feb. 15, 2000 The NASA space shuttle Endeavour, launched this
weekend (Feb. 11), is scheduled to gather information key to the
University of Hawai'i's research on the aftermath of volcanic
eruptions. In November 1999, Professor Peter Mouginis-Mark,
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, led a team of
researchers in collecting information on the effects of the
devastating 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines.
NASA's 11-day Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) will
provide more extensive topographic data on that specific area as
well as most of the rest of the Earth. The SRTM will employ an
advanced measurement technique called "radar interferometry" to
obtain topographic maps of the Earth's surface for use by
scientists, emergency relief planners, commercial companies and
many other investigators, according to NASA. One of the two
radar antennas that will form this "interferometer" will be
located on a 197-foot mast that will be the largest fixed
structure ever flown in space. "It's prov