NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
SCIENCE SCREENING
REPORT OF THE APOLLO 7
Prepared By
JOHN L. KALTENBACH
EARTH RESOURCES
DIVISION
MANNED
JUNE 1969
SCIENCE SCREENING
REPORT OF THE APOLLO 7
70-MILLIMETER
PHOTOGRAPHY AND NASA EARTH RESOURCES
AIRCRAFT MISSION 981 PHOTOGRAPHY
JUNE 1969
Submitted by
John L. Kaltenbach
Earth Resources
Division
Manned
ABSTRACT
Section Page
I SUMMARY
.
By John E. Dornbach
and John L. Kaltenbach
II INTRODUCTION
By John L.
Kaltenbach
III APOLLO
TRAJECTORY
By Samuel L. Miller
IV CAMERA SYSTEM
.
By Edward Yost and
Robert Anderson
V GEOLOGY
By Paul D. Lowman
VI GEOLOGY
.
By Malcolm M. Clark
VII GEOLOGY
..
By Stephen J.
Gawarecki
VIII GEOLOGY
By Bruno E. Sabels
IX GEOLOGY
.
By David L. Amsbury
Section Page
X OCEANOGRAPHY..
..
By I.D. Browne,
James B. Zaitzeff, Victor E. Noble,
Don Ross, and Jack Paris
XI HYDROLOGY
.
By Daniel G.
Anderson
XII HYDROLOGY
.
By Curtis C. Mason
XIII AGRICULTURE
...
By
Victor I. Meyers
XIV AGRICULTURE
AND FORESTRY
.
By Robert N.
Colwell
XV RANGE
RESOURCES
..
By Charles E.
Poulton
XVI GEOGRAPHY
By Robert H. Alexander, Leonard W. Bowden, Duane F.
Marble, David S. Simonett, and Jack E. Wilson
XVII CARTOGRAPHY
By Robert Nugent
XVIII METEOROLOGY
By
Kenneth M. Nagler and Stanley D. Soules
Section Page
XIX METEOROLOGY
By
William Norberg and William Shenk
XX METEOROLOGY
.
By Victor S.
Whitehead
XXI SPATIAL
RESOLUTION IN MULTIBAND IMAGERY
By Phillip N. Slater
APPENDIX
A APOLLO 7 MISSION DATA AND INFORMATION LIST
FOR 70-MILLIMETER
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
...
APPENDIX
B EARTH RESOURCES AIRCRAFT PROGRAM AND
PLAN FOR
TABLES
Table Page
XIII-I AGRICULTURE FEATURES THAT PROBABLY
CAN BE RECOGNIZED
FROM SPACE
XIV-I COMPARISON OF APOLLO 6 AND 7
PHOTOGRAPHS..
XVI-II PRELIMINARY PLANS FOR SUBSEQUENT EXPLOIT-
ATION OF APOLLO 7
PHOTOGRAPHY
.
XVIII-I SUMMARY OF PHENOMENA PHOTGRAPHED
.
A-I FRAMES
PERTAINING TO EACH DISCIPLINE
...
A-II SCREENING
INFORMATION LIST
.
B-I EARTH
RESOURCES AIRCRAFT PROGRAM
SUMMARY
(a) Flights made
(b) Flight made
B-II AIRCRAFT
MANIFEST
(a)
(b)
B-III MISSION
981 SCHEDULE
(a)
(b)
B-IV MISSION
981 INSTRUMENT SUMMARY
..
FIGURES
Figure Page
V-I
Mainland north of
Guaymas
..
V-2
V-3
Lagoa
Mirim
..
V-4
V-5
V-6
XVIII-1 Hurricane Gladys centered off west coast
of
G.m.t.,
XVIII-2 Hurricane Gladys photographed from ESSA-7
(meteorological
Satellite),
XVIII-3 Eye of typhoon Gloria (western
XVIII-4 Typhoon Gloria photographed from ESSA-7
at
XVIII-5 Northerly view of
XVIII-6 Supiori and
Reflection of the
sun at
A-1 World
Apollo Index Map,
A-2 World
Apollo Index Map, Near East
Figure Page
A-3 World
Apollo index Map,
A-4 Apollo
photographic coverage enlargement of Baja
A-5 Apollo
photographic coverage enlargement of Sinai
Peninsula
area
.
A-6 ONC
Index of
A-7 ONC
Index of
B-1 Test
sites
.
B-2
B-3 Texas-Arizona
Map
B-4
I. SUMMARY
By John E. Dornbach and John L. Kaltenbach
Earth Resources Division
NASA Manned
EARTH RESOURCES BRIEFING AND SCIENCE SCREENING OF THE APOLLO 7 MISSION 70 MILLIMETER PHOTOGRAPHY AND NASA EARTH RESOURCES AIRCRAFT MISSION 981 PHOTOGRAPHY
An earth resources briefing and science screening of the Apollo 7 mission 70-mm photography and NASA Earth Resources Aircraft Mission 981 photography held at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) on November 14 and 15, 1968. The Earth Resources Division (ERD), Science and Applications Directorate (S&AD), with the support from the Mapping Sciences Laboratory (MSL), was responsible for conducting this briefing, for the science screening, and for subsequent dissemination of the photography. The primary purpose of the preliminary screening was to permit invited scientists and photographic interpreters from other NASA centers, user agencies, and academic institutions to study and evaluate orbital and related aircraft photography for possible use in the meteorology and earth resources disciplines.
On the morning of November 14, initial briefings on the photography were given to 24 visiting scientists an approximately 20 MSC scientist. After these briefings, the scientists, representing their respective disciplines, met with ERD Scientific Discipline Group Leaders at the MSL for the science screening of the Apollo 7 photography and the NASA Earth Resources Aircraft Mission 981 photography. Upon completion of the science screening, user agency representatives and other invitees were asked to provide, individually or by scientific discipline group, written contributions to be compiled into a science screening report by the ERD. The following comments represent a summary of the science screening contributions of the photography.
APOLLO 7
PHOTOGRAPHY
Science Discipline Evaluation
Geology. - For geologic utility, the Apollo 7 photography must be considered more comparable to Gemini photography than to Apollo 6 photography. As a result of the obliquity of the majority of the views, true shapes of surface features tend to be distorted or obscured. In geology, the main use of oblique photography is to show an introductory view, or a complementing view to vertical photography.
Oceanography. The repetition of the Apollo 7
photography over certain areas, such as the
Hydrology. For hydrologic purposes, the Apollo 7 photography, although less useful because of the many oblique views, will be useful for the following purposes:
1. General descriptive hydrology of river basins, lakes, irrigated land uses, etc.
2. Qualitative analysis of bottom topography and sediment transport using the more oblique views that occur near sunglint areas.
3. semiquantitative measurements of bottom topography and sediment transport using the near-vertical photography in which sunglint is not very close to the area of interest.
Agriculture-forestry-rangeland
resources. Brushlands, timberlands, and grasslands can be fairly
well differentiated on some of the views of the southwestern
Geography. the two major areas of use of the Apollo 7 photography in
geography in geography are in urban analysis and in land-use and regional
planning. A land-use study of the
internal structure of
Cartography. The additional coverage of the Apollo 7 photography is of some value for photomosaic preparation, including extending the coverage of photomosaics and photomaps compiled from Gemini and Apollo 6 photography. Certain areas covered by previous space photography can be studied to determine the value of this type of photography as a means of detecting changes for purposes of updating existing maps.
Meteorology. Sufficient cloud street views occur in the Apollo 7 photography, over known locations and at known times, to provide useful information for the study of this phenomenon. Atmospheric dynamics can be studied from the views of Hurricane Gladys and Typhoon Gloria. Additional characteristics of sea-breeze effect, clearing over lakes and rivers, and structure over mesoscale systems can be gained from viewing this photography.
Photographic Image Quality Evaluation
Earth photography was not a primary objective of the Apollo 7 flight, and no provision was made for use of attitude control during photography. The following circumstances, which either degrade the image quality or reduce the effective potential of orbital photography, are included as a guide for the planning and conducting of future missions.
1. Numerous frames were either overexposed or underexposed, and there appeared to be a lack of exposure uniformity between individual frames.
2. Emulsion streaks similar to those on the Apollo 6 photography were evident throughout the type SO-121 film.
3. Many of the photographs were high obliques which make photointerpretative analysis and measurement extremely difficult.
4. There were few of the sequential, stereoscopic photographs which are basic for most scientific analyses.
5. Certain water-land interfaces and desert areas of the world, which were previously photographed, were again photographed many times. These areas, although presenting spectacular views from space, have almost always been exposed in oblique and nonsequential views, which decreases their value for scientific analyses.
6. Eastman Kodak color duplicating film, type 5386, was used to duplicate transparencies from the original type SO-121 film. Although this film produces high-quality copies, type SO-118 duplicating film has been expressly designed to reproduce the high resolution of type SO-121 film.
Recommendations for Future Photographic Missions
Recommendations for future photographic missions include the following:
1. Spacecraft photographic missions should be planned in detail prior to the mission so that a photographic plan properly coordinated with the experiments and crew activities is available for training purposes.
2. The electric camera-shutter tripping mechanism should be integrated in some way with a recording system to correlate frame numbers with ground elapsed time (g.e.t.) and to determine a more exact spacecraft position at the instant a photograph is taken.
3. If possible, all photography to be used for scientific analysis should be taken in vertical or near-vertical orientation (image plane of a camera parallel to ground) and with 60-percent overlap in the direction of flight.
4. A preplanning and a target-aiming chart with exposure data for specific sun elevations should be prepared. Experiments which differ radically from each other should be programmed for acquisition in order not to interfere with experiments which require optimum exposure.
5. Photographs taken during the Gemini and Apollo missions can be used to study earth resources of a regional nature. For more detailed studies, higher resolution or multiband photography would be required.
6. Spacecraft windows should be designed so that they will permit a minimum of 50-percent transmission of the electromagnetic spectrum from approximately 0.4 to 0.9 micron.
7. Special care should be taken to reduce redundant oblique coverage of a specific target of opportunity. This recommendation does not suggest either elimination of the sequential, vertical and stereoscopic coverage of an area for photographic analysis or redundancy designed to fulfill periodic objectives of certain experiments.
8. On future photographic missions, enough attitude-control fuel must be allotted to the photographic portion of the mission so that the spacecraft can be maneuvered and maintained in position for optimum photographic data acquisition.
NINETY-DAY SCIENCE REPORT
Representatives of the user agencies, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and other invitees were asked to participate in the preparation of a 90-day science report. The participating scientist were requested to forward to MSC by February 28, 1969, results of scientific analysis of the Apollo 7 photography within this time interval and conclusions reached regarding the value of the Apollo 7 space photography in the meteorology and earth resources disciplines. The Earth Resources Division plans to publish this 90-day science report on the Apollo 7 photography in a format similar to that used for the Apollo 6 Mission science report.
By John L. Kaltenbach
NASA Manned
On
Two of the experiments scheduled during this mission were to obtain synoptic terrain photography and synoptic weather photography. The objectives of the Synoptic Terrain Photography Experiment were to obtain high-quality photographs (with color and black and white film) of selected land and ocean areas for geologic, geographic, and oceanographic study and to evaluate the relative effectiveness of color versus black and white film. Nadir photographs were desired, particularly in sequences of three or more overlapping frames. The objective of the Synoptic Weather Photography Experiment was to secure photographic coverage of as many as possible of the 27 basic categories of weather phenomena planned for coverage during the Apollo 7 mission.
For the experiments, a Hasselblad 500-C (NASA modified) 70-mm format camera was used with a Zeiss Planar, 80-mm focal-length, f/2.8 lens. Kodak film types SO-368, SO-121 and 3400 were exposed, using Wratten 2A, 25A(red), and 58(green) filters. More than 500 photographs (appendix A) were taken during the Apollo 7 mission.
Color, color infrared, and multiband photography taken during NASA Earth Resources Aircraft Mission 981 (appendix B) within a week prior to, during, and after the Apollo 7 flight (of selected areas in the southern United States) as well as U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) color photography flown during the Apollo 7 mission, was available for comparative studies with Gemini, Apollo 6, and Apollo 7 photography during the science screening on November 14 and 15, 1968.
III. APOLLO TRAJECTORY
By Samuel L. Miller
NASA Manned
Orbital
insertion occurred at approximately 10 min 27 sec g.e.t. into a 123-by153-n. mi. ellipse. At 1 hr
46 min 30 sec g.e.t., the Saturn IVB (S-IVB) had completed its safing, and the
ellipse was 123 by 167 n. mi. At 2 hr 55
min 2 sec g.e.t., the command and service module (CSM) separated from the S-IVB
over
During the next six revolutions, the S-IVB orbit was found to be decaying more rapidly than had been anticipated. This unexpected decay could have been caused by some type of venting through the J-2 engine, since the S-IVB was in retrograde orbital rate attitude. A second phase maneuver of 7 fps retrograde was therefore performed with the SM RCS at 15 hr 52 min g.e.t. The resultant ellipse was 120 by 165 n. mi.
The first secondary propulsion system (SPS) burn was corrective combination maneuver which occurred at 26 hr 24 min 56 sec g.e.t., when the CSM was approximately 84 n. mi. ahead of the S-IVB. The duration of the external DV was 9.4 seconds and was targeted to achieve the proper phase and height offset at the time of the second SPS burn. The first SPS burn was nominal, with a resultant ellipse of 125 by 195 n. mi.
The second SPS burn was a coelliptic maneuver which occurred at 28 hr 0 min 56 sec g.e.t., when the CSM was approximately 82 n. mi. behind and 7.7 n. mi. below the S-IVB. The duration of the burn was 7.9 seconds. The burn was targeted to achieve a coelliptic orbit with the S-IVB. The resulting CSM 114-by 153-n. mi. elliptic orbit was approximately 8 n. mi. below the S-IVB.
The terminal phase initiation maneuver was performed at 29 hr 16 min 45 sec g.e.t. and used the onboard computer solution based on sextant tracking of the S-IVB. This 17-fps SM RCS burn was approximately 46 seconds in duration. Following a small midcourse maneuver at approximately 29 hr 28 min g.e.t., the pilots began the braking phase at approximately 29 hr 47 min g.e.t. with final rendezvous closure to approximately 70 feet occurring at about 30 hr. g.e.t. The ellipse at rendezvous was 121 by 160 n. mi. Stationkeeping was terminated by a 2-fps SM RCS posigrade maneuver at 30 hr 20 min g.e.t.
The ellipse at the end of the rendezvous was 121 by 160 n. mi. The third SPS burn was targeted to lower perigee to 90 n. mi. and to place perigee in the northern hemisphere. This 9.0-second maneuver occurred at 75 hr 48 min 00.3 sec g.e.t. and resulted in a 90-by160-n. mi. ellipse. This maneuver lowered perigee to well within the SM RCS deorbit capability and placed perigee in the northern hemisphere. The in-plane velocity required to obtain a 90-by160-n. mi. ellipse was not sufficient to obtain a good stabilization control system (SCS) test; therefore, a DV of 200 fps was directed out of plane to the south. The SPS burn time allowed a good SCS test as well as adjusted the propellant level for the propellant utilization gaging system (PUGS) test on the fifth SPS burn.
The fourth SPS burn was an SPS minimum-impulse test of 0.5- second duration. This maneuver occurred at 120 hr 43 min 0 sec g.e.t. The velocity component was directed in-plane posigrade to raise perigee slightly. This maneuver resulted in a 90-by156-n. mi. ellipse.
The fifth SPS burn was targeted to position the ground track at the end of the mission so the primary revolution for the SPS deorbit burn (revolution 163) would have at least 2 minutes of Hawaii track and the next revolution would provide a backup SM RCS deorbit from apogee with touchdown occurring at a longitude of 60° west and north of the islands. This shift of the orbital plane was accomplished by the large out-of-plane component of velocity directed southward in combination with an orbital period adjustment. An overburn of approximately 50 fps occurred because of late cut-off, but did not perturb the trajectory significantly, and the target conditions were achieved. The fifth burn, a 67.1-second burn, occurred at 165 hr 0 min 0.47 sec g.e.t. with resultant ellipse being 91 by 250 n. mi.
The sixth burn was second SPS minimum-impulse test lasting 0.5 second. The maneuver, occurring at 210 hr 08 min 0.47 sec g.e.t. was directed out of plane since no change to the 90-by 236-n. mi. ellipse was desired.
The seventh SPS burn was targeted to place perigee in revolution 165 at a longitude of 53° west. This was accomplished by rotating the line of apsides approximately 30° to the west with the 7.7-second burn at 239 hr 6 min 11.97 sec g.e.t. The in-plane velocity required to obtain the desired rotation was all radial.. To avoid the problems of executing a completely radial maneuver, a DV of 100 fps was directed out of plane to the north. The out-of-plane velocity increased the burn time, and a better SCS test was obtained.
The eighth
SPS burn was the deorbit burn. This
11.8-second burn occurred over
By Edward Yost and Robert Anderson
Image quality varies widely from frame to frame, and the largest factor in poor quality is incorrect exposure. With proper exposure, image quality is very good. The high penetration characteristic of type SO-121 film, as compared to type 368 film, yields much better results when exposure is a factor. Though underexposure of type SO-121 film results in a magenta tint, many of the underexposed frames on this film hold details which should be recoverable with individual frame photographic reproduction techniques. Although time did not permit a detailed examination of Gemini and previous Apollo photography, the high ration of oblique to vertical photography and the inconsistency of exposure indicate no significant overall advance in Apollo 7 photography.
Preliminary screening of the photography shows potential use of a number of the frames in a study of offshore topography, currents, sediment distribution, et cetera. Multispectral stratigraphic techniques would, in future photographic missions, be expected to enhance the amount of data available for study in oceanography, as well as geology, agriculture, and forestry. A more detailed study of the photography should indicate geographic areas of interest for further study by other techniques.
Future photographic missions would be expected to yield more data for earth resources studies if fuel could be extended to orient the space vehicle for vertical photography and if a team of scientists were consulted in the determination of areas to be photographed. A greater array of photographic equipment could be expected to yield a greater amount of data.
By Paul D. Lowman
THE APOLLO 7 TERRAIN PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIMENT (S005)
Of the
more than 500 photographs obtained during the Apollo 7 mission, approximately
200 are usable for the purposes of this experiment. In particular, a few near-vertical,
high-sun-angle photographs of
A hand-held, modified 70-mm Hasselblad 500C camera with an 80-mm focal-length lens was used for this photography experiment. Type SO-121 film was used for the synoptic weather and terrain experiments, and type SO-368 film was used for both the operational and the experiment photography. A type 2A filter was used with all but one of the magazines containing type SO-121 film, and no filter was used with type SO-368 film.
In general, the color and exposure quality of the pictures on type SO-368 film was excellent. Some problems were encountered in exposing type SO-121 film, and many frames were either underexposed or overexposed. The need to hurriedly change the film magazines, filters, and exposure settings when a target came into view probably accounts for the improper exposure of many frames. Another factor contributing to underexposure was the use of a 1° field-of view spotmeter to determine exposure settings of the camera which has a field of view of approximately 52°. By using corrective photographic processing techniques, many of the exposure problems can be corrected.
Sharpness ranged from fair to excellent on both films, with steadiness in holding the camera a probable factor in those frames containing blurred images. Swells on the sea surface were resolved on both films.
Subsequent paragraphs describe regional