+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

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N.,TIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
MANNEDSPACECRAFT
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ERIMI[I I.
Texas
483-5111 June 22, 1970
RELEASED BY NASA HEADQUARTERS
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected
Honeywell, Inc., Boston, for award of a contract for the design, development
and delivery of a lO-band multis_ec_ral scanner instrument to be flow_
in the Workshop of the Skylab manned space flight program in 1972. ·
Estimated value of the cost-plus-i_nagQ_-fee_contract is $3 million. _ *
Delivery of flight hardware is scheduled for late 1971. Manned Spacecraft
Center, Houston, will manage the multispectral scanner contract.
Objectives of the multispectral scanner experiment are to develop
techniques and interpretive methods for Earth survey from orbital vehicles.
The scanner will detect and measure radiated and reflected solar
energy from materials on Earth. Since materials generally exhibit a
unique signature (identifying characteristic) in a portion of the electromagnetic
radiation spectrum_ this signature can be used to identify the
material and detect ch_ges.
Data acquired by the scanner will be used along with multispectral
photography aboard Skylab mud airborne flights over selected sites to
determine optimum signatures for identifying types and evidence of crop
disease, mapping of vegetation water pollution, and mapping surface
temperatures. The instrument will collect data in ten spectral bands
between 0.4 and 12.5 microns over a minimum ground resolution of approximately
130 feet.
The multispectral scanner will be flown as part of the Earth Resources
Experiment Package under development for Skylab. Other experiments include
a multispectral photographic facility, an infrared scanner, and a set of
microwave instruments. Principal objectives of the Earth Resources
Experiments Package are to gather data over a broad portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum for Earth resources studies, using man in selecting