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THE METRIC CAMERA MISSION OF SPACELAB 1 
G.Konecny, Technische Universität Hannover and M.Schroeder, 
DFVLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Federal Republic of Germany 
The metric camera experiment has been placed at the disposal of 
ESA by the German Ministry of Research and Technology as an In- 
ternational Facility. The finances are administered therefore 
on behalf of the ministry by DFVLR, the German Space Agency. The 
DFVLR has also been made responsible for the technical develop- 
ments to adapt the camera to the spacelab module and to ensure 
its operation in space conditions. The second aspect of the ex- 
periment is the use of the data. For that reason ESA under the 
initiative of Mr. Plevin has established a metric camera working 
group. This group is represented by the authors. 
The objective of the experiment is to obtain high resolution 
aerial photographs. The resolution must be that high that the 
world's topographic and thematic mapping needs for the development 
of resources at scales 1:50.000, 1:100.000, 1:250.000 can be 
met. While densely populated countries have met some of these 
mapping needs by conventional techniques, there is a continuous 
need for updating these maps at a Cycle of at least 2 to 3 years. 
This is currently not reached even in the most advanced countries, 
where updating cycles are more in the time frame of 10 years or 
more. Moreover, developing countries, particularly those in Africa 
and South America, do not have these maps at all. Conventional 
techniques are not able to meet the mapping needs within the next 
100 years, as a recent United Nations survey shows. /1/ 
Current automatic data gathering systems, such as Landsat, are 
most useful for a variety of purposes. However, the resolution 
is much too coarse for the requirements of basic topographic 
and thematic mapping. On the other hand present data collection, 
transmission and processing technology cannot compete with the 
data content in aerial photographs in simplicity, time require- 
ments and cost. Therefore, the European, the American and the 
Russian efforts are not only directed to improve automatic scanner 
systems but also in gathering high resolutions photography from 
satellites. 
The first European Spacelab payload will be brought into space 
in cooperation with NASA on Space Shuttle in December 1980 or 
later. The first spacelab payload will have to be shared between 
23 ESA and 17 NASA experiments in a variety of disciplines range 
from life sciences, material sciences to earth observations. 
Fig. 1 shows the NASA-Space Shuttle and the NASA-ESA Spacelab, 
consisting of the pressurize Spacelab module and the open Space- 
lab pallet. 
Earth observations contain a German built microwave scattero- 
meter which will be able to operate in a sidelooking radar mode. 
It also contains a ZeiB RMK 30/23 aerial survey camera. During 
launch and during operation the experiment must be integrated 
into the payload. The metric camera will be used in the pressurized