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The Sahara is one of the driest places on our planet. For the people who live here, finding water is a matter of life and death. But in 1981, a NASA geologist – Dr Farouk El-Baz – would use space technology to create a lush, green oasis in the midst of the desert.
Dr Farouk El-Baz, NASA Geologist
At the time, Dr El-Baz was working on a project to photograph the Earth's geological features – but was struggling to find any defining features in the Sahara's barren landscape.
Dr Farouk El-Baz, NASA Geologist - "A friend of mine, and a colleague, by the name of Charles Elachi, had been working on flying a radar imaging instrument on the space shuttle Columbia. And I called him up, and I said 'Charles, we need to get a picture of the place in Egypt between south Egypt and Sudan.' He said 'OK, great sure, what does it look like?' I said 'It's absolutely flat... there's nothing else that you can really see from the satellite image.' He said 'Well, that might be a waste of film.' I said 'Well, any hint of a structure or a fault, or a crack, that would help us geologically."
They decided to use radar to photograph below the Sahara's sandy surface, and reveal the subterranean view. Hidden beneath the blanket of sand, was water. Dr El-Baz had discovered some of the 30% of the world's fresh-water reserves which are locked away below ground.