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Dead Sea Scroll Fragment Infrared Examination

The previously invisible lettering of the Dead Sea Scrolls was made distinguishable by use of advance multispectral imaging techniques originally developed at JPL for Earth remote sensing and planetary probes. Use of the Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) enabled a look at the fragment in longer wavelengths beyond the sensitivity of infrared film. The computerized system provides better and earlier detection of change then previous methods of monitoring documents.

In a mid-1980s project for the National Archives, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a contractor used CCDs originally developed for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Galileo planetary probe as the basis of a system that regularly scans historical documents to see if there have been any deteriorating changes.