ATLAS C - A cartographic free-flyer system

The functions and design performance goals of a metric camera for earth observations to be flown on the first Spacelab mission and later for implementation in an autonomous retrievable spacecraft are reviewed. The camera will be used to photograph the earth through the Spacelab optical window. Each picture will image a 189 x 189 km sq region, with a spatial resolution of 21 x 21 m. No image motion compensation will be provided for the Shuttle flight. Improvements in the imaging ability to a 10 m resolution, plus an overlapping of consecutive pictures by 20% perpendicular to the flight direction or 60-80% in the flight direction are required in order to produce viable, 1:50,000 or 1:100,000 scale mappings for the use by developing nations. The autonomous spacecraft configuration will require a pressurized container for the camera, a pointing accuracy within 0.2 deg in pitch, roll, and yaw, and a total weight of 800 kg.