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2.1.4 Camera Bracket

The bracket used to mount the camera to the window was developed initially for the Shuttle Radar Lab missions and was designed and built to hold a Linhof camera to the aft-starboard flight deck overhead window. The bracket used the window shade clamping system, but did not use a window shroud. It had a manually adjustable cross-track angle from nadir +20 to -40°. The angle was set at 0° for all KidSat operational time with the exception of the pre-dock period during STS-86, when the shuttle was rolled, due to thermal constraints. The bracket and the KidSat hardware were all stored in lockers on the Shuttle's flight and middecks for access immediately following the launch and to allow final storage just before landing.

2.1.5 Video Cameras

The shuttle's solid-state color television camera (CTVC) has a standard Orbiter interface, and will be used on the International Space Station; these video cameras fly regularly in the Orbiter payload bay. The cameras are mounted on the payload-bay pan tilt units and us CCD arrays to provide color video. The sensor is a color separating prism with three 1/2-inch frame transfer CCDs, and a resolution of 400-625 Television Lines per Picture Height (TVL/PH). The camera weighs less than 18.9 pounds, is approximately 17x6x6 inches, and consumes a maximum of 24.8 W at 28 V. The focal length of the CTVC is from 5.5 mm to 47 mm, offering a field of view of 10.7°x8.0 (horizontalxvertical FOV) to 75.3°x60.1°. The f-stop range if f1.7 to f16. The camera's output is NTSC video. One of the CTVCs normally in the payload bay was designated for KidSat use during the nadir-viewing portion of the shuttle flights. KidSat was allocated periods when video data could be acquired and downlinked live to the ground for capture at the KidSat Data System and by the classrooms via NTV. The camera was operated by the Integrated Communications Officer (INCO) at the JSC Mission Control Center in a synchronized mode, in which onboard Greenwich Mean Time(GMT)/Mission Elapsed Time (MET) was embedded in the video signal. The GMT/MET time was decoded at JSC and the information was displayed on the final video product.

Picture Size Cue Card
Orbit Altitude 211 Nautical Miles or 391 km
Camera Lens Focal Length | *Effective Focal Length (mm) | Picture Width (x-axis) | Picture Width (y-axis) | 10% Picture Overlap Time Interval (secs) | Pixel Size(m)
50|64|204 km (127) mi|136 km (85) mi|23|67
85|109|120 km (75) mi|80 km (50) mi|14|39
180|230|57 km (35) mi|38 km (24) mi|6|19
*compared to film camera

[[image]]
Figure 13: Photograph parameter calculations for the Kodak DCS-460C for various lens focal lengths (FOVs, pixel size).

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