NASA photos are used in court case over divine bridge

Credit: J. DESCLOITRES, MODIS LAND RAPID RESPONSE TEAM, NASA/GSFC

A high-profile Indian court case has invoked NASA imagery to help clarify whether a submerged chain of sandbanks is a bridge of legend or not.

The religious text Ramayana recounts how the Hindu god Ram, with an army of monkeys, built a stone bridge from India to Sri Lanka to rescue his kidnapped wife Sita from a demon king. Last week, India's Supreme Court heard arguments over whether the 48-kilometre-long underwater ridge visible in satellite photos (right, as seen by the Terra satellite) is in fact the Hindu relic.

The suit, brought by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, aims to stop a US$600-million project to convert the narrow strait between India and Sri Lanka into a shipping lane. Meanwhile, the Congress Party in power has argued that the project is vital for the country's economy — and also cited NASA's own clarification that satellite photos give no proof that the so-called Ram's bridge was man-made.

On 14 September, the court postponed its verdict until January 2008. The government has agreed to re-examine the project to see whether the shipping channel can be created without boring through the controversial ridge.