Endeavour is carrying two radar antennas, one aboard the shuttle and one at the end of a 200-foot mast extending from the spacecraft. Using a technique called radar interferometry, scientists will combine signals from the two antennas to construct 3-D images of the land below. The radar will also supply information about the characteristics of Earth's surface. The Andes Project currently relies on data from European and Canadian radar satellites. While these satellites have provided the team with generally accurate information, they do not use radar interferometry and cannot accurately gather data from heavily forested or wet-weather areas such as the eastern edge of the Andes.
Scientists have a general understanding of the geologic processes that formed the Andes.
Over the past 200 million years, the Nazca tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean wedged itself underneath the western edge of the South American continental plate. The lighter continental plate lifted, crumpled and cracked open from the pressure, creating what is now the Andes, a range full of volcanoes and fault lines. These subduction processes continue today, as does the study of tectonics. The Cornell researchers are interested in more specific information than the radar satellites have supplied. These interactions are very interesting.