Geological exploration from orbital altitudes

Abstract

The National Aeronautics & Space Administration is planning geologic exploration from orbiting spacecraft. For that purpose it is evaluating new and refined exploration tools, often called remote sensors, including devices that are sensitive to force fields, such as gravity gradient systems, and devices that record the reflection or emission of electromagnetic energy. Both passive electromagnetic sensors (those that rely on natural sources of illumination, such as the Sun) and active electromagnetic sensors (which use an artificial source of illumination) are being considered.