Lightweight radars to monitor ice from above.

• Author: Wright, Austin
• Position: TECHWIRE

* NASA plans to replace ground-based ice-sensing radars with lightweight devices that could monitor glaciers from above.

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The space agency awarded a $2.4 million grant to the Georgia Institute of Technology to develop a phased-array radar that can produce 3-D images and is light enough to be mounted on unmanned aircraft. The technology would make it easier--and less expensive--to study ice formations that are indicative of the rate of global climate change.

"What we're trying to do is make a light, compact radar with organic, commercially available materials," says John Papapolymerou, a professor at Georgia Tech and a principal investigator on the project. "We'll be able to determine things like how much water is in the ice--whether it's dry ice versus whether...