Camera

The WB-57 Ascent Video Experiment (WAVE) provides both ascent and entry imagery and enables better observation of the Shuttle on days of heavier cloud cover and areas obscured from ground cameras by the launch exhaust plume. WAVE comprises a 32-inch-ball turret system mounted on the nose of two WB-57 aircraft. The turret houses an optical bench, providing installation of both HDTV and infrared cameras. Optics consist of an 11-inch-diameter, 4.2 meter fixed-focal-length lens. The system can be operated in both auto track and manual modes.

The 1999 Leonid MAC campaign consisted of five consecutive nighttime flights including stops in the United States, England, Israel, and the Azores. The Space Dynamics Laboratory of Utah State University operated several instruments in the visible and infrared spectral bands. One system obtained high-resolution (4 cm-1) measurements of the night sky emission spectra in the 1 to 1.65-micrometer band. Measurements were obtained above the clouds providing exceptional viewing conditions. The OH airglow emission layer originates at an altitude of ~87 km and has a half-width of typically 8–10 km. Its behavior during the storm night of 17/18 November 1999 was of particular interest because the OH airglow emission may be affected by the Leonid meteor ablation products that can penetrate to altitudes as low as 80 to 90 km altitudes. Typical Leonid meteor end-heights are much higher above ~100 km. Variability of the OH emission was measured to investigate any changes that may result from meteor interactions with the atmosphere that could cause changes in the natural airglow emission via excitation caused by the meteor ablation products. It is also possible that organic materials in the meteors could be broken down into simpler products that include the OH hydroxyl radical.

To search for these effects, airglow data were collected by a Bomem Michelson M-150 interferometer. This interferometer operates at 4 cm-1 resolution (apodized) with a scan rate of about 1 scan every 3 seconds. The interferometer field of view is 1.5° and it is sensitive from 1 to 1.65 micrometers. An intensified Xibion camera recorded the instrument field of view during the flight, providing information on the pointing elevation and azimuth. This sensor operated almost continuously during the entire 1999 Leonid MAC campaign and collected an extensive set of night airglow spectra.

THDTV provides high definition TV imaging with long focal length optics. It consists of a professional Sony HDTV Camcorder studio with a broadcast quality low f-number zoom lens.

This instrument detects wake phenomena at highest possible spatial resolution.

The RC-30 is an airborne film camera system, using color infrared, natural color and black and white film, to obtain high resolution earth imagery.

The IHFRI provides imaging (and spectral) information at a rate of 1000 frames per second for detection of ablation anomalies, flicker in bowshock emissions, spacecraft rotation, and wake.

This instrument consists of a 6 inch clear aperature f0.75/105 mm lens and 256 x 256 pixel intensified CCD camera. The field of view is 6.25 x 6.25 degrees, illuminating 11.5 x 11.5 mm of the photocathode of the intensifier. The intensifier phospher has a brief decay time constant of 0.8 ms, ideally suited to study the natural afterglow in rapidly moving targets. It can be equipped with a low dispersion 7 inch 300 l/mm grating, providing a spectrum from 500 nm (15.9 mm from zero order) to 900 nm (29.4 mm from zero order) just outside the field of view. Spectrum can be recorded by pointing away from the SRC and will help target acquisition by providing a ray directed to the zero order.