KATE-140 and MKF-6M space cameras

The KATE-140 large-format topographic camera made it possible to obtain photographs suitable for precision photographic-survey processing. It has a field of vision of 85 deg which makes it possible for a single frame to contain an image of a 450x450-km segment of the Earth's surface from orbital altitude. Precise measurement of the linear dimensions of objects and their mutual positions can be carried out on the photographs. Moreover, the camera's high resolution meets imagery-interpretation requirements. A guidance device provides for both single and strip photographs with a given interval. A punching machine is used to separate the strips. Before being used on the Salyut-6 station, the other fixed camera, the MKF-6M, underwent thorough testing onboard the Soyuz-22 spacecraft. The multispectral MKF-6M camera is designed to obtain information about the spectral characteristics of natural objects in order to increase the reliability of their interpretation. It has six spectral channels, four of which encompass the visible spectra and two of which are in the near-infrared.