PROGRESS IN SPACE PHOTOGRAPHY 
KARL-HEINZ MAREK 
Zentralinstitut für Physik der Erde 
Telegrafenberg A17 
0-1561 Potsdam 
SUMMARY: 
In the last decade a significant progress becomes in the 
development and practical use of panchromatic and multi- 
spectral space photography. The recent USSR space cameras 
represent a complete photographic remote sensing system 
with a gradation of parameters fulfilling the resolution 
range from 5 to 20 meters i. e. between the airborne 
systems and the space scanners. In present the multispec- 
tral camera MK-4 possessing together both a mu1tispectral 
and a spectrozonal mode shows the highest information po 
tential. Indeed in case of digitalization of photographs 
a possible loss of information has to bear in mind. In 
practice considerable experiences exists in line and 
image mapping up to 1:50 000 scale based on space photo 
graphs . 
KEY WORDS: Space cameras, information potential, digitali 
zation, cartographic application 
1. SPACE CAMERAS IN THE EIGHTIES 
In the last time an intensive development of digital re 
mote sensing from space (Landsat TM, SPOT) has taken place 
For these systems a routine using was reached on commer 
cial way. This progress was promoted above all by the de 
velopment in the digital information processing technology 
Especially the digital combination of the high resolution 
SPOT data together with the LANDSAT TM data represents a 
new quality of remote sensing products. 
However the geometric resolution < 10 meters necessary 
for a number of detail recognition and mapping couldn’t 
reached yet. In addition the scanner systems are connected 
still by considerable expenses both for the system man 
agement and for the using of data. In both problems the 
photographic systems appear to be a suitable alternative 
in case of identification of non-operational processes 
on the Earth’s surface recognizable in the visual and the 
near infrared spectral bands. Because the efficiency of 
the systems is exhausted not yet (shortening of the time 
for data seize by the users, extension of the user areas, 
improvement of the resolution and the information con 
tent) the space photography will be keep their justifica 
tion in the next time despite the expected space scanners 
with 5 meter pixel size after the middle of ninethies. 
In the last years predominantly 3 types of space photo-