Radar to spot the bad guys from on high

China's space engineers said they can now offer a new method to detect terrorists transporting explosives as well as track moving targets more efficiently than current modalities.

Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Radio Measurement, affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, said they have developed the country's first terahertz radiation-enabled synthetic-aperture radar and they are working to utilize the technology in public security work.

Li Jun, a senior designer at the institute, explained that a terahertz is a unit of the electromagnetic spectrum between the microwave and the optical wavelengths. Among terahertz radiation's many physical characteristics, it has a special ability to identify proteins, the building blocks of living organisms. It can also detect TNT, one of the most oftused explosive materials, and can therefore be used to detect individuals carrying the material on their persons.