Cover: This Spaceborne Imaging
Radar - C / X-Band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SIR - C / X-SAR)
image provided by NASA JPL and acquired from the Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS - 59 (April 11, 1994), shows part
of the vast Namib Sand Sea on the west coast
of southern Africa, just northeast
of the
city of Luderitz, Namibia.
The
radar images provided a comprehensive picture
of soil density, moisture and local structures which, when combined with the photographs taken from the aircraft, enabled the researchers to find and examine the
city's characteristic temples and artificial ponds used for irrigation and water storage.