1986_10 The Daily Collegian October 1986

              t Monday, Oct. 27, 19S6 „
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Prof helps NASA with heat project
By David Forster
Staff Writer
A CSUF geologist is helping the Na¬
tional Aeronautics and Space Administra¬
tion test a camera that takes pictures of
heat escaping from the earth's surface at
night, a process that is invisible to the
human eye.
The rock material that forms the surface
of the earth is heated by the sun during the
day, and at night some of this.heat is
released into the atmosphere, said Dr.
Roland Brady, a CSUF geology professor.
Brady is working with two camera-like
instruments that have been designed to
receive and record the image of this
escaping heat energy onto a magnetic
tape, much like the way a video camera
records visible light energy.
One of the cameras, called a Them ma t ic
Mapper, is orbiting the earth on a NASA.
satellite; the other, a Thermal Infrared1
Multi-Spectral.Scanner, is mounted on a
plane and generally takes its pictures from
about 10,000 feet, Brady said.' NASA
owns both cameras.
The cameras actually
record the image by
digitizing it
. Roland Brady
Because plants and other ground co¬
vering hinder the ability of the cameras to
get a good image of the escaping heat
energy, they are most effective in areas
like the desert where the ground is exposed.
Brady's work is focused on an area located
in southern Death Valley and north-eas¬
tern Mojave Desert.
I The cameras actually record tbe image
by digitizing it, Brady said. This involves
,bicaking the image down into a series of
small dots, called pixels, which are re¬
corded on the tape. When viewed col¬
lectively, these pixels produce a represen¬
tative picture of the image.
For example, the satellite-based Them-
matic Mapper breaks the image it is
focused on — about 360 square miles of
the desert surface — down into nearly 13
million pixels.
After the images are recorded, the film
is processed by a computer at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
which has also contracted with NASA to
test the camera.
In the developing process, Brady said,
the computer converts the invisible image
on the tape to a visual picture on a screen
by assigning a color value to the pixels.
"Each  pixel has an address on the
J picture and tells the computer what the
,' value of heat is at each pixel point and a
color is assigned to that particular value,"
he said.
Since different rocks emit different
wavelengths of heat energy — like different
keys on a piano produce different sounds
— and the camera recordt^these dif¬
ferences, the pixels that represent the
different rock types win be different colors,
Brady said. /
"Because it looks at heat, it can be used
to discriminate betweeen different types
of rocks based on thermal properties," he
said.
For example, the pixels representing
one area of rock may be colored blue, and
those from an adjacent rock area red,
because the two rock types were emitting
different wavelengths of heat energy.
This kind of differentiation might not
be possible using a regular photograph of
the earth's surface with light-sensitive Film,
Brady said, because the rocks may look
the same — have the same color — even
though composit lonally t hey are different.
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PROPOSITION
65
• WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29 1986
• NOON     t
• FREE SPEECH AREA
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■JOYCE JOHNSTON
Kern County Valley
Action Network
■ CINDY HOOPES
Hoopes Chiropractic
. ASSEMBLYMAN 4
BRUCE BRONZAN
31st Assembly District
> NAT DELLAVALLE
Dellavalle Laboratory,
inc.
When the developing process is com¬
plete, a map is madefrom a photograph of
the screen. With this map, Brady said,
each of the different rock types>in the area
photographed can be located and identified
— a process that would have taken
considerable time without the map because
it would be difficult to determine where
one rock stopped^*nd another began if
they were similar in color or hidden by a
layer of dirt.
Brady said the testing he is doing for
NASA actually represents a tradeoff,
because at the same time he is helping
them test their new cameras, the maps are
proving extremely valuable for some
research he is doing on fault systems in thc
area.
In geological terms, a fault represents
the boundary formed by two adjacent
rock types, he said. Over time layers of
dirt and other sediment settle over the
rocks, and this makes it difficult to
determine exactly where the boundaries
are. But with the maps, the lines between
the rocks become clearly visible.
Since it is the movement of large masses
of rocks at these boundaries that causes
earthquakes, Brady said one possible
application of his research into the fault
systems will be a better understanding of
earthquakes in general and the potential
for earthquakes in the research area.
These cameras could also prove profi¬
table for the mining industry, Brady said,
because they "can allow vast areas of land
to be scanned for particular kinds of
minerals" without actually going into the
area. The maps could save much time and
money then, -by indicating exactly where
the particular minerals that gold is most
commonly found in are located. "In a
way, it's like prospecting from space," he
said.
CLASSIC
Continued from page 2
$3,595," he added. "It is probably worth
about $150,000 now."
At the car shows, a rating system
based on 100 points is applied to cars
that enter. Gostonian said the highest
score his Imperial has gotten is 81
points.
"The only cars that get perfect points
are those that have been over-restored,"
he said. "1 don't care what you say,
there is no car from the factory that can
score more than 90 points. They just
aren't   worried   about  detail."
He said some of these "perfect" cars
cannot be driven or they will auto¬
matically  start  losing  points.
"With the rating system, "there is so
much pressure from the big boys, the
hierarchy, the little guy doesnt have a
chance," he said.
He would have had to spend twice as
much money on his restoration to get a
perfect score on his Imperial, he said.
"Thi% is where it gets ridiculous," he
said. "If you can't drive a car, then
there is no point in having it."
Gostanian leaned over the fender
and delicately tipped the gas-can^ozzle
towards thedry mouth of the carburetors.
After priming them, he stepped off the
running board of the 1938 Buick
Century — being careful not to spill gas
on the maroon finish — and got in and
tried to start it.
It sounded like he had left the car's
lights on overnight.
He looked over and said, "No
problem, all these cars were six-volt
systems. They all sound like this."
He sprayed the carburetor again,
this time with a quick-start product. He
turned it over again. It started with a
sudden roar, thrusting a frail cloud of
blue  smoke  from  the  exhaust.
Gripping the steering wheel tightly
with his left hand, he gnashed the car
into gear with his right hand and
turned his head as he backed the conver¬
tible slowly out of the garage into the
sunlight.
Gostanian came to a stop, thrust the
gear forward, and a smile broke across
his face as thc car pulled forward.
Little Rabbit's back! The same Little
Rabbit whose first adventure has sold
more than I million copies worldwide.
Sow she faces a challenge even greater
than a loose tooth—a baby in the
house!
Here's the funniest collection of
'spooky stories ever seen!
General Book Dept.
Lower Level
From the best-selling team that created
"Baby Taming'—here is "SWEET
DREA MS A ND MONSTERS, "a com
forting, humorous explanation of dreams
and nightmares.
IBOOKSTOR
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