It follows trivially from old results of Majda and Lax-Phillips that connec
ted obstacles K with real analytic boundary in R-n are uniquely determined
by their scattering length spectrum. In this paper we prove a similar resul
t in the general case (i.e. R may be disconnected) imposing some non-degene
racy conditions on K and assuming that its trapping set does not topologica
lly divide S*(C), where C is a sphere containing K. It is shown that the co
nditions imposed on K are fulfilled, for instance, when K is a finite disjo
int union of strictly convex bodies. (C) 2000 Academic Press.