MKF 6

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Stamp pad of the German Post of the GDR , 1978
GDR special postage stamp for the Interkosmos program, 1978
MKF-6 optics
Control panel of the MKF-6

MKF 6 is a multispectral camera that was built in the GDR for cosmic remote sensing of the earth.

The MKF 6 was built by the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine with the organizational help of the Institute for Electronics of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (IE of the AdW) , which was founded in May 1973 . The optics for the Soviet lunar exploration have been supplied there since 1969. For the MKF 6, financial and material resources were made available from a special part of the state plan for science and technology .

The MKF 6 enabled a combination of photogrammetry and spectrometry . It was in use on Soyuz 22 from September 1976 and then on all space flights of the USSR / Russia until the end of the Russian space station MIR . It is considered a milestone in space cartography and pointed the way to the development of the HRSC camera, which was also created in cooperation with the heir of VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, today's Carl Zeiss (company) or its Jena-Optronik GmbH division.

Because of its suitability for espionage, the MKF 6 was not allowed to be exported to the West .

Technical specifications

With the MKF 6, strips of terrain about 225 km wide and 155 km long (assuming an altitude of 350 km) and a resolution of about 10–20 m (in the visible area) could be recorded. 70 mm wide films with a length of 110–220 m (depending on the film thickness) per lens were used as recording material, which provided individual images with a format of 56 mm × 81 mm. Image data and a gray wedge were imprinted in the free image edge. A coverage of the images between 20 and 80% could be selected for series of exposures. The total weight of the camera with the control units was 175 kg.

The MKF 6 was equipped with six high-resolution Pinatar 4.5 / 125 lenses with which it could simultaneously take six photos in six different spectral ranges . The exposure time was between 1/20 and 1/200 second. These six color channels lay between the wavelengths

  • 460–500 nm (blue)
  • 520-560 nm (green)
  • 580–620 nm (yellow-orange)
  • 640–680 nm (orange-red)
  • 700-740 nm (red)
  • 780-860 nm (near infrared)

The film and filter combinations could be changed depending on the application. All six lenses had a uniform focal length of 125 mm. Nevertheless, the photos of all lenses had to have absolutely the same reproduction scale regardless of the respective spectral range and were not allowed to show any distortion . For this purpose, the optics developers of the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine created a completely new type of lens. To ensure image quality, the camera frame moves in the direction of flight during exposure to compensate for the orbital movement of the satellite carrying the camera, which leads to image blurring during exposure.

The production of the lenses was also very complex. Each of the individual lenses was set separately and then clamped in a special lathe. The mounted lenses were centered so that the axis of rotation of the machine and the optical axis of the lens coincided exactly. Now the frame could be reworked with the highest accuracy. The lenses were then stacked in a tube, the inner diameter of which was precisely ground.

commitment

The first test was carried out on a Soviet aircraft. The geoscientific flight program for these tests came from the Central Institute for Earth Physics . This was followed by the first use of an MKF 6 in September 1976 on board the Soyuz 22 . The spaceship was specially modified and, instead of the coupling adapter, it was equipped with a module that took up the camera. A completely revised version MKF 6M , which had redundant mechanical and electronic systems among other things, was used on Salyut stations ( Salyut 6 and 7 ) from 1978 and later on the MIR space station . There it was operated, among others, by Sigmund Jähn , the first German in space. In addition, from September 1979 it was also used in aircraft (e.g. in the An-2 ) for ground recordings. A total of eleven cameras of this type were built. The version called MKF 6MA could be remotely controlled from the ground station.

evaluation

At the same time as the MKF 6, a multi-spectral projector MSP-4 was developed. With it, several spectral images could be projected on top of each other with different filter combinations on a screen or on photo material. The precision copier PKA was designed as a contact copier for reproductions.

Significance for research in the GDR

For many research institutes and institutions in the GDR, the MKF 6 project was the first step towards cosmic and airborne remote sensing of the earth's surface.The resulting camera images were used to search for mineral resources, to assess agricultural and forestry crops and areas, to determine the time of harvest, and to map , for assessing water quality and soil quality, for military reconnaissance, for environmental research, for meteorological statements (weather research) and more. Not long after this project, earth remote sensing was set up as a separate working direction in the Interkosmos program of the socialist Comecon countries, which ultimately led to government agreements in the field of remote sensing.

The construction costs of the camera amounted to 82 million marks from the GDR . It was considered the best space camera at the time. It is still partially used today. In addition, around 100 devices developed in the GDR were used in space missions of the Interkosmos program, and around 150 devices in the ground stations. The collaboration between VEB Carl-Zeiss-Jena and the USSR in equipping satellites and ground stations began in the mid-1970s. The first practical result of this collaboration was the development of the MKF 6.

The results and experiences with the MKF 6 flowed into the development of devices, research and data analysis for further missions during the time of the GDR and afterwards:

  • Infrared Fourier spectrometers were developed and used to study the atmosphere of Venus ( Venera 15/16 mission in 1983). (directed by Volker Kempe , member of the academy since 1984, and by Dieter Spänkuch , member of the Leibniz Society since 1996 )
  • Equipment and development and research participation in the Vega mission 1986 (Vega 1 and Vega 2 probes to Venus and Comet Halley ). Mainly the image data of Halley's Comet were received, processed and interpreted
  • Contributions to the planetary mission Mars-94 later renamed Mars 96 , z. B. with the development of the optoelectronic wide-angle stereo camera WAOSS
  • Participation in the Martian moon Phobos mission in 1988/89, which was much more extensive than the GDR participation in the Vega mission. The Academy's Central Institute for Cybernetics and Information Processes played a key role in the development of the Fregat camera complex. The Phobos mission failed because the probe failed prematurely and only a few data and images could be received, but at least these were intensively evaluated.

literature

  • Heinz Stiller (Red.): Soyuz 22 explores the earth. Joint edition of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1980.
  • Photographic remote sensing of the earth. Experiments on the orbital station Salut-6. Academy Publishing House. Berlin 1983.
  • Alexander D. Kowal, Lew Dessinow: Into space for the benefit of mankind , Progress Moscow Publishing House, State Publishing House of the GDR Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3329005157 , ISBN 9783329005154
  • Wolfgang Tzschuppe: The multi-spectral camera projector MSP-4 - a color synthesis device for evaluating multi-spectral recordings in Jenaer Rundschau 1977, pp. 266-269

Web links

Commons : MKF 6  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Carl Zeiss Magazine 2006
  2. ↑ a b c d MKF 6 (Deutsches Museum)
  3. ↑ a b Heinz Mielke: Transpress Lexicon. Space travel and space exploration. VLN 162-925 / 123/86
  4. ↑ Interflug timetable (PDF; 5.7 MB)
  5. ↑ a b Wolfgang Mühlfriedel; Edith Hellmuth: Carl Zeiss - Vol. 3. Carl Zeiss in Jena 1945 - 1990 ISBN 3412111961 , pp. 333–335 google books accessed on May 4, 2013
  6. ↑ Multispectral technology from Jena turns 30. Jenoptik, September 15, 2006.