MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011

PHOTO CAPTION P-49953BC
July 8, 1998

This is a view of the 60-meter (200-foot) long mast that is part of the upcoming
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission after it has been fully extended during tests
at AEC-Able Engineering Company, Inc.  in Goleta, CA.  In the foreground is the
canister where the mast is stored. The box-like structure surrounding the mast
in the background is a thermal test chamber.

Set for launch on the space shuttle in September 1999, the Shuttle Radar 
Topography Mission is designed to collect three-dimensional images of nearly 80 
percent of the Earth's land surface, except near the poles, with a resolution of
30 meters (98 feet).  To collect the 3-D data, engineers will add the 60-meter-
long (200-foot) mast, additional radar antenna, and improved navigation devices 
to the original Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C hardware, which flew twice on the 
shuttle in 1994. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA and the 
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, 
and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Earth Science 
Enterprise.