Apollo Lunar Television Camera

TV cameras used on the Apollo (and later ASTP and Skylab) missions varied in design, with image quality improving significantly with each design. For each mission, the camera was placed inside the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) in Quad 4 of the Lunar Module (LM) Descent Stage, so it was capable of broadcasting the first steps of the astronauts as they climbed down the ladder of the LM at the start of the first moonwalk/EVA. Afterwards, the camera would be detached from its mount in the MESA, mounted on a tripod and carried away from the LM to show the progress of the EVA. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1520x1594, 532 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1520x1594, 532 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Ancient Greek , Apóllōn; or , Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros, was the archer-god of medicine and healing, light, truth, archery and also a bringer of death... The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first joint flight of the US and Soviet space programs. ... Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit. ... Description Role: Lunar landing Crew: 2; CDR, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 20. ... Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ...

Westinghouse Apollo Lunar Television Camera

Apollo 7 earth orbit TV transmission

• Usage: Apollo 7 (earth orbit), Apollo 8 (lunar orbit), Apollo 9 (earth orbit), Apollo 11 (lunar surface)
• Optical resolution: ~220x~220
• Lines per video frame: 320, 1280 (not used)
• Frame rate: (SSTV) 10 fps, 0.65 fps (not used)
• Bandwidth: 409.6 kHz
• Black and white

The camera was built by Westinghouse, was 11" x 6" x 3" in size, and weighed 7.25 pounds, It consumed 6.25 watts of power. It had four interchangeable lenses — "telephoto", "wide-angle", "lunar day" and "lunar night". Image File history File links Apollo7. ... Image File history File links Apollo7. ... Apollo 7 was the first manned mission in the Apollo program to be launched. ... Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo space program, in which Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to orbit around the Moon. ... Apollo 9 was the third manned mission in the Apollo program, a ten day earth-orbital mission launched 3 March 1969. ... Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... Resolving power is the ability of a microscope or telescope to measure the angular separation of images that are close together. ... In film, video production, animation, and related fields, a frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture. ... Slow-scan television (SSTV) is used by amateur radio operators, to transmit and receive static pictures in monochrome (black & white) or colour. ... Frame rate, or frame frequency, is the measurement of how quickly an imaging device can produce several consecutive images, called frames. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A kilohertz (kHz) is a unit of frequency equal to 1,000 hertz (1,000 cycles per second). ...

Westinghouse Lunar Color Camera

• Usage: Apollo 10 (lunar orbit), Apollo 11 (lunar orbit), Apollo 12 to 14
• Resolution: ~175x~175
• Lines per frame: 262
• Frame rate: 20 fps (60 fields, with each color filter used for 3 fields, resulting in a 20 fps color video)
• Bandwidth: 2 MHz
• Sensor: Secondary-Electron-Conduction (SEC) Tube
• Colour: Field Sequential Camera

Based on the TV camera used on previous missions inside the CSM, with modifications to adapt it to the lunar environment. Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program, and the first (and only manned Saturn V) mission to launch from pad 39B. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon, and the test of the lunar module in lunar orbit. ... Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. ... Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the Moon. ...

During the early moments of the first Apollo 12 EVA, the camera was inadvertently pointed at the Sun while preparing to mount it on the tripod. This action caused an overload in the secondary vidicon tube, rendering the camera useless for the remainder of the mission. On latter missions problems were encountered with image brightness and contrast.

Apollo 10 TV image of Earth Image File history File links Apollo10S69-33995. ...

Apollo 11 TV image Image File history File links Apollo11tv. ...

Apollo 12 EVA TV image Image File history File links Apollo12tv. ...

RCA J-Series Ground-Commanded Television Assembly (GCTA)

GCTA transmission from the LRV

• Usage: Apollo 15 to 17
• Resolution: ~ 200 lines
• Frame rate:
• Colour: Field Sequential Camera
• Spectral response: 3500–7000 angstroms (350–700 nm)
• Gamma: 1.0
• Sensitivity: > 32 dB signal to noise ratio
• Dynamic range: > 32:1
• Sensor: Silicon Intensifier Target (SIT) Tube
• Optics: 6x zoom, f/2.2 to f/22
• Automatic light control (ALC): average or peak scene luminance

Because of the failure of the camera on Apollo 12 , a new contract was awarded to the RCA Astro division in Hightstown, NJ. The RCA system was a new, more sensitive and durable TV camera tube. The design team was headed by Robert G. Horner. The team used newly developed SIT, and the improved images were obvious to the public. Image File history File links S72-55420. ... Image File history File links S72-55420. ... Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. ... Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program and was the sixth and last manned mission to date to land on the Moon. ... A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer) is 1. ... Hightstown highlighted in Mercer County. ...

The system was composed of the Color Television Camera (CTV) and the Television Control Unit (TCU). These were connected to the Lunar Communications Relay Unit (LCRU) when mounted on the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Lunar Rover-Manned land vehicle (NASA) The Lunar Roving Vehicle or Lunar rover or LRV is a land vehicle for use on the Moon. ...

Once the LRV was fully deployed, the camera was mounted there and controlled by commands from the ground to tilt, pan, and zoom in and out.

References

• Apollo TV and Communications Documentation
• Apollo Lunar TV - Its History and Development from Armstrong to Leonov
• Ground-Commanded Television Assembly (GCTA)
• Apollo 10 Television
• Sarkissian, John. Television from the Moon. The Parkes Observatory's Support of the Apollo 11 Mission. Latest Update: 21 October 2005.