[meteorite-list] New 'T-ray' Space Camera Also Sees Through Clothes, Walls

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:01:34 2004
Message-ID: <20020619004500.75935.qmail_at_web10408.mail.yahoo.com>

New 'T-ray' Space Camera Also Sees Through Clothes and
Walls
By Robert Roy Britt
space.com
13 June 2002

A new British science program aims to produce cameras
for use in space that are so sensitive they will see
through fog, smoke and even walls and clothing.

The technology will detect an obscure yet ubiquitous
form of radiation known as terahertz waves, also
called T-rays. Similar cameras are also expected to
have applications in airport security and medicine.

One camera, already built by a company called QinetiQ
and working in so-called millimetric waves, has
demonstrated the ability to eerily peer through
clothes and reveal a concealed weapon -- as well as
much of a person's body.
The image shows far more detail than an infrared
camera, which detects heat.

Terahertz radiation is similar to but more revealing
than what the QinetiQ camera detects. Scientists say
T-rays are emitted by pretty much everything. They
come from "the human hand, an envelope, someone with
clothes on or a comet," says Geoff McBride, who works
on Star
Tiger, the British project.
It is supported by the European Space Agency.

For the entire article, go to:

<http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/t-ray_camera_020613.html>

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Received on Tue 18 Jun 2002 08:45:00 PM PDT