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every year millions of visitors come to

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washington dc to tour the national

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archives

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the nation's largest storehouse of

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historic documents

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this year marks the constitution's 200th

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anniversary and to help monitor the

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aging process of this document and

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others like the declaration of

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independence and the bill of rights the

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national archives recently installed a

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space-age camera designed by nasa's jet

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propulsion laboratory in pasadena

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california the national archives came to

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nasa

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take a look at what kind of technology

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could possibly be used to provide a

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long-term monitoring system that would

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allow them to

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have baseline information

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that was taken at the beginning of the

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monitoring period and then to be able to

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follow in a very detailed fashion

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the

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chris stevens team led by ed miller

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designed the national archives camera

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adapting technology normally used for

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deep space missions

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the camera images the documents by

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scanning under green light a handful of

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pre-designated postage stamp size areas

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in this case a practice target is used

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instead of a real document

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during each pass of the scanner a

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million bits of digital information are

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collected

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the system has the capability of going

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back year by year to the exact same spot

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in order to make comparative studies of

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in addition a whole variety of image

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processing techniques can be used

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in the case of the first two letters in

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the constitution the w and e of we the

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people

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the black and white image can be color

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enhanced to more easily see areas where

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ink has flaked off the parchment

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there are other needs for the system

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according to norvel jones of the

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national archives preservation

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we have concern that

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changes do happen when documents are

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exhibited there can be fading or changes

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in contrast or paper can darken

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and by

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getting a baseline reading before an

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item goes on exhibit and then monitoring

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it after exhibit and keeping records on

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items that are frequently requested that

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we'd be able to

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tell changes that were occurring before

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any serious damage it happened

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the monitoring system can also be a

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valuable tool for determining what type

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of active measures to take in order to

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save and stabilize a document or piece

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of artwork

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the imaging system represents a

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down-to-earth use of technology

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developed over the years for outer space

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probes like voyager which used it to

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capture incredible pictures of our

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nearby planets norvel jones sums up

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nasa's link with the past at the time

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that the constitution was created

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pen and ink on parchment was about the

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most permanent and best that you can do

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and i think now in

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honor of the 200th anniversary of the

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constitution were able to use what is i

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think now the best that you can do in

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terms of

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uh wrapping up new technology in order

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to be able to assure that the documents