Not exactly what you'd expect to see on the old radar screen

Space Station in Radar View How much is that space station on my radar? DLR

Perhaps it's time for Space Ghost to hand over his moniker to the International Space Station (ISS). The orbital outpost makes for an eerie blue shadow in this image taken by a German radar satellite, SPACE.com reports.

The snapshot was taken by Germany's TerraSAR-X satellite on March 13, 2008. But the German space agency only released the startling view of the then-incomplete space station this month.

This dates back to a time when the $100 billion space station still lacked its final set of solar arrays, and so it appears lopsided, SPACE.com notes. Since that time, astronauts have installed the solar arrays as well as new modules and laboratories, including a fine new observation deck.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi has already taken advantage of his ISS residence to send plenty of Twitpics featuring stunning Earth views, and has also made good use of the new cupola window. So it's only fair that the space station itself receive a bit of the spotlight, too.

[via SPACE.com]

15 Comments

very cool :D

Wow, a blue smudge from 2 years ago. Thanks. This coincides with the mass adoption of Photoshop in Germany.

So if a more recent picture would be taken, it would look even more like a TIE fighter?

lol. true dat

Hahaha, thats funny. I thought it looked like a TIE fighter too

Do you guys even know what a TIE fighter looks like?

Wow, that just looks so amazingly cool!

jess
www.fbi-logfiles.int.tc

If they'd colored it pink you could have had a different headline - radar has no colour, so you can pick any colour you like.

We had this capability two years ago. We can do this with ANY satellite.

i've done that in photoshop.. i wonder if this is the actual photo or just the result of sliding some sliders in photoshop, as 'The Famous' implied..

@the famous
For the record, I am annoyed that every time you comment on an article, you have nothing positive to say. Is there nothing you appreciate? Are you here to let off steam, or comment?

So sad , poor station just sitting there not getting any glory. It's a cool picture though.
| Written by Dimitri from Eat Healthier Foods |

I find it so facinating how we're beginning to explore and kind of takeover other planets. In fact, I read a really interesting article here www.myrealestatearticles.net which talked about how the real estate will be divided up in the future on these planets. They say we may go back to a more communist was of sharing the new real estate that is up there.

i've done that in photoshop.. i wonder if this is the actual photo or just the result of sliding some sliders in photoshop, as 'The Famous' implied....

Paley
http://burnwiigames.org/

If they'd colored it pink you could have had a different headline - radar has no colour, so you can pick any colour you like.
We had this capability two years ago. We can do this with ANY satellite.
www.tran33m.com/vb/
www.tran33m.com


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