LOprog_v_bw_o_n (L-67-5651) - a photo on Flickriver

Where the magic happened.

Tim Samshuijzen’s wonderful Lunar Orbiter camera photos (linked to below) and their accompanying Eastman Kodak descriptions, allowed me to compile/paraphrase the following:

“The Kodak photographic subsystem of the Lunar Orbiter contained two cameras, a film processor, and a readout system. The entire unit was contained in a shell of aluminum .015 or 1/64th of an inch thick and measuring 22 x 26 x 32 inches. The pressure, temperature, and humidity in the shell were controlled. Total weight was about 145 pounds. The film, film advance, and shutter control were common to both cameras. A special sensor in the photo subsystem tracked the lunar surface through the 24-inch lens and determined the proper compensation for the movement of the spacecraft relative to the lunar surface.

The two lenses in the two lunar orbiter cameras simultaneously made high- and medium-resolution exposures. The large lens (left), a 24-inch Paxoramic lens manufactured by Pacific Optical Company, produced the high-resolution photos of approximately 3-foot or 1-meter ground resolution. The smaller (right) 80mm Schneider wide-angle lens made the medium-resolution exposures of approximately 8-meter ground resolution. In one photographic pass over the moon’s surface, the Kodak photo subsystem exposed up to 20 frames of two pictures each. The intervals between frames varied from 2.2 to 8.8 seconds. The slow, high-resolution Kodak High-Definition Aerial film, used in the lunar orbiter camera, required long exposures. The film was 70mm wide, the same width as 120 amateur film, with a resolution of 450 lines per millimeter for a potential capability of 29,250 lines for the width of the film used. The optical-mechanical scanner in the subsystem scanned 18,942 lines over the 2¼” width of film. Prior analysis of the lunar surface, based on photographs from the Earth, was used to determine the exposure time. At least 176 frames of two pictures each were exposed with enough extra film footage to provide a potential of about 215 frames. When exposing a picture, the camera unit automatically (1) activated the movement-compensating sensor, (2) clamped the film to the platens and flattened it, and (3) opened the shutters to make two exposures simultaneously. The exposed film was stored on a looper system to await processing at times other than during actual photography or during the lunar night. Nine photographic targets of potential Apollo landing sites were recorded before the film supply was exhausted.

The Kodak photo subsystem processed the film before scanning into the video relay to the ground. The drum, (on the far left) contained the Kodak Bimat film supply. A gelatin layer on this film was saturated with a photographic processing solution. The Bimat film was laminated with the camera film on the small drum in the center where it developed and fixed the film in about 3½ minutes. The Bimat film then left the camera film and passed onto a separate take-up reel (on the right with the spokes). The camera film then passed over the drying drum at the bottom (barely visible above the lip of the shell). At a temperature of 95° F on the drum dried the film in about 11½ minutes. It then moved to the readout system.”

Amazing.

Additionally:

www.drewexmachina.com/2017/08/01/lunar-orbiter-5-filling-...
Credit: Andrew LePage/Drew Ex Machina website

Taken on: October 15, 2022

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Sets appears in: • Lunar Orbiter I • Lunar Orbiter II more » • Lunar Orbiter III • Lunar Orbiter IV • Lunar Orbiter V • Early Apollo: Construction, Testing & Flying Begin « less

Groups appears in: • Space Exploration • B&W more » • Apollo program • Riding with Robots on the High Frontier • Solar system and planets • Space stuff • Space & Astronauts « less

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