219 
Figure 2.—Cargo Bay Pallet for STS-17. The primary sensors will 
be the Large Format Camera with Attitude Reference System 
(LFC + ARS) and the second generation Shuttle Imaging Radar 
(SIR-B). 
From the nominal 300 km altitude, the performance of the LFC & ARS will 
be roughly comparable to that of the MC on Spacelab-1. The ground res 
olution will be about 10-25 m/£p depending upon choice of film. This 
is adequate for image mapping at 1:100,000 scale, but not sufficient for 
consistent mapping of cultural detail. Within the stereo model the 
positional accuracy 0% + oy = 10 m will be more than adequate for 
1:50,000 scale, and the elevation accuracy with 1.2 B/H ratio will be 
8.3 m, which is compatible with 25 m contour interval. These 
numbers are representative of the mapping which could be done in areas 
having ground control. 
At this time STS-17 is not scheduled to carry a GPS transponder, so that 
spacecraft position and altitude accuracy will be restricted to that 
obtainable from STDN or TDRSS tracking data. However the gross errors 
resulting from the Shuttle attitude uncertainty will be eliminated by 
the ARS on the LFC. The resultant elevation errors will be about 
Oz ~ 50 m permitting contours at 150 m interval to be compiled without 
ground control. 
THE LFC-PAN CAMERA PACKAGE 
There is a proposal within NASA to eliminate the last two impediments 
to 1:25,000-scale mapping from space, i.e., restricted ground resolution 
and inadequate positional accuracy. 
The most obvious thing is to add the GPS transponder to the Shuttle, and 
this is proposed for later missions. 
To address the resolution problem, NASA still has in its inventory two 
of the panoramic cameras which were used on Apollo lunar missions 15, 
16, and 17 (Masursky, 1978). These cameras have a focal length of