Pictures from the space shuttle Endeavour have revealed segments of the Great Wall of China which had been lost in the desert sand for centuries.
NASA says the technique could open a treasure trove of new archaeological discoveries around the world.
The lost portions of the Great Wall of China show up as an orange line in these images.
The Great Wall findings and the wider archaeological potential of space-based radar were presented at a University of Florida symposium Thursday organised by the World Monuments Fund, the Royal Angkor Foundation and the university.
Endeavour captured images of two generations of the wall along a 47-mile remote stretch 430 miles west of Beijing in the north-central China desert.
Chinese scientists have followed up with studies on the ground.
NASA says radar imaging from space could open a treasure trove of new archaeological discoveries.
SOUNDBITE:
Archaeological studies is one kind of spin-off of the surface sea science studies that's really proving to be very valuable. We are continuing studies in arid regions such as the famous lost city of Ubar and other areas in the Mid East, also the data has proved very useful in tropical regions such as the Ankor Wat temple complex are also we are looking at some other areas in Indonesia and other parts of southeast Asia.
SUPERCAPTION: Jeff Plaut, NASA Scientist
One section was built in the Ming Dynasty and is about 600 years old; the other was built during the Sui Dynasty and is more than 1-thousand years old.
