Meanwhile, Surveyor's laser altimeter is measuring the highs and lows of Mars'polar caps, volcanoes and gorges; its thermal emission spectrometer is mapping the planet's surface minerals.
22.
And the spacecraft's laser altimeter, measuring variations in surface elevations, has given scientists a more detailed view of the terraced landscape of the north polar cap.
23.
Pilcher said the space mission planned for 2003 would carry a laser altimeter, capable of very precise measurements of the satellite's distance from the surface of Europa.
24.
Flying out of San Juan, the T-39 Sabreliner also will use its laser altimeter to survey parts of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean territories.
25.
Flight plans are set by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md ., said geophysicist Jim Garvin, chief scientist of NASA's space shuttle laser altimeter project.
26.
The instrument, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, fires infrared laser light pulses at the surface and determines land elevations by measuring the round-trip time of the light.
27.
Smith's instrument, known as a laser altimeter, has never been used to systematically measure all of Earth's continents, although such a mission is planned for the future.
28.
Since the laser altimeter maps both surface and treetop elevations, forestry and planning officials can use its measurements to analyze growth of forests and other vegetation, Smith said.
29.
The valleys were found by scientists from the University of Arizona, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions, using laser altimeter data from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft.
30.
LRO's laser altimeter's examination of the Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole suggests up to 22 % of the surface of that crater is covered in ice.
