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NASA’s CASALS Instrument Bridges Gaps in 3D Maps of Earth’s Surface

Published October 21, 2026 8:17 am • Updated October 21, 2026 8:17 am •
NASA’s CASALS Instrument Bridges Gaps in 3D Maps of Earth’s Surface
Photo via NASA

From orbit, today’s space-based laser instruments measure Earth’s forests and terrain one narrow line at a time. Between those lines are enormous gaps that include millions of acres of land scientists never directly measure. NASA’s CASALS instrument will blend machine learning with an ultra-compact lidar instrument to adaptively ‘sweep’ large swaths of Earth’s surface. This […]

From orbit, today’s space-based laser instruments measure Earth’s forests and terrain one narrow line at a time. Between those lines are enormous gaps that include millions of acres of land scientists never directly measure. NASA’s CASALS instrument will blend machine learning with an ultra-compact lidar instrument to adaptively ‘sweep’ large swaths of Earth’s surface. This […]

Source: NASA — Original report ↗

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Original source: NASA ↗