Radar has many applications including military uses such as air defense systems and missile tracking, remote sensing for weather observation and mapping, air traffic control, law enforcement for speed enforcement, aircraft safety for weather avoidance and terrain mapping, ship safety for collision avoidance, space applications like planetary exploration and satellite tracking, and other uses such as oil and gas exploration, insect and bird tracking, and medical diagnostics. It works by emitting radio waves that bounce off objects and return to the radar unit, allowing detection and measurement of the distance and position of objects.