ANALYSIS OF LUNA-9 PHOTOGRAPHY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B04560A005700010018-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 22, 2003
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: July 1, 1966
• Content Type: REPORT

For Release 2003106120 : P78B045 700010018-7
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PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION REPORT
ANALYSIS OF LUNA9 PHOTOGRAPHY
Declass Review by NIMAIDOD
SECRET
N P1 C/R-5022/66
JULY 1966
GROUP I EXCLUDED FROM
AUTOMATIC DOWNGRADING
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WARNING
This document contains information affecting
the national defense of the United States,
within the meaning of Title 18, sections
793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as amended.
Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is
prohibited by law.
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PHOTOGRAPHiC INTERPRETATION REPORT
ANALYSIS OF LU NA-9 PHOTOGRAPHY
JULY 1966
NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER
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INTRODUCTION
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This report contains the results of an analysis of
Luna-9 photography as requested in CIA/FMSAC require-
ment C-DS6-83,440. The object was to provide informa-
tion about the facsimile photographic system, the space-
craft, and the lunar surface independent of previously
published Soviet and U.S. data. The derived NPIC results
corroborate the data published in the references at the
end of this report. The agreement between the NPIC
data and that data from the other sources validates the
assumptions upon which the NPIC results are based.
The primary working materials consisted of reproduced
contact prints of
the moon, ground photography of a Luna-9 display at the
Fair of Permanent Achievement, Moscow, and the Soviet
motion picture T-6376.
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GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS
1. Angular Fields of View
a. Azimuthal: Because the horizon
continuously appear
image did not
(See Figures
1-4), the azimuthal angular field of view could not be
determined by matching conjugate imagery. However,
the available horizon image approximated a sine curve
y = Csine which is characteristic of the rotational motion
of a rigid body on a flat surface. With an origin at the
point of zero tilt (See Paragraph 2a), the constant (C)
was computed from measurements of y values along the
small axis of the format and angular values along the
longer format dimension. The following sine curves were
approximated assuming that the horizon was flat.
y =0.290 sing
y =0.335 sine
y = 0.413 sine
y = 0.400 sine
The sine curve traces of the horizon images with apparent
maximum and minimums indicate a 360 degree azimuthal
angular field of view.
b. Vertical: The vertical angular field of view (28 ?
48'?2?) was determined by averaging the values obtained
by two different solutions. The plus or minus 2-degree toler-
ance reflects a judgment rather than a precise figure.
(1) Utilizing the Ion Febru-
ary 4, an effective focal length was graphically determined
by adjusting a 16 degree tilt-angle overlay (See Paragraph
NPIC/R-5022'g)1
f d2
D dl
where f = focal length of panorama (303mm)
D =distance from camera station todevice on panorama
but determined from ground photography
d2 = dimension of device as measured on panorama
dl = true dimension of device as determined from ground
photography
The derived focal length together with the format size
provided a vertical angular field of view of approximately
29?06'.
2. Tilt of Facsimile Scanner
Rotation Axis
a. Relative to lunar horizon: The tilt angle is defined
as the angle between the scanner rotation axis and a
normal to the assumed flat terrain. To obtain the points
of maximum slope (inflection points), tangent lines were
graphically constructed at various points on the horizon
and the tilt angle was measured directly. The tilt values
are mean values with an accuracy of plus or minus 1.5
degrees. RANGE TILT
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9
FIGURE 5. PLOTTED MOVEMENT OF OBJECTSI
(Degrees) (Degrees)
15
- 17
16
16
- 19
17.5
21
- 24
22.5
21
- 24
22.5
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2a and Sketch A) to the points of zero and maximum tilt
which provided a focal point. The focal length was measured
directly on the constructed graphic.
PANORAMA
EDGE
ZERO
TILT
MAXIMUM
TILT
Sketch A
(NOT TO SCALE)
By applying the derived focal length to the format size,
the vertical angular field of view was computed to be
approximately 28?30.
(2) Employing ground photography, the true ground
dimension of the "photometric" device and its distance
from the camera station were computed (See Paragraph 5).
An effective "blow-up" focal length for the facsimile
panorama was computed from the following equation:
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coordinates of the sun with the known coordinates of the
Luna-9 capsule. The selenographic coordinates of the sun at
a time T~ (Universal Time of a posnton the panorama where
the shadows indicate the point was looking directly into the
sun) were obtained by interpolation from the American
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac (See Figure 6). The
selenographic latitude and longitude of the capsule were
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The relative displacement of conjugate imagery (See
Figure 5) showed that the spacecraft moved between the
To isolate the axis of
capsule movement,
base
were plotted on an established
using capsule components (mirrors, antennas,
feet) as references, assuming that the relative position
of the components remained fixed. The displacement of
the imagery and the near intersection of the different
horizon images indicate that the movement was a rota-
tion about an axis located in an area approximately 35
degrees to the right of the capsule foot displaying
the prominent protuberance. The axis of rotation was
approximately the same for both movements and the second
movement produced the greater amount of rotation. No
evidence of movement could
be found. The difficulty in exactly locating the axis of
rotation was that a scale change
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hindered overlay traces. Therefore, image displacement
could not be definitely attributed to the scale change or
actual capsule rotation. Variations in the image quality of
traces of conjugate imagery from
considerably reduced the number of
traceable images. The
precluded comparative traces in those areas.
b. Relative to direction of sunlight: The tilt of the
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scanner axis relative to the direction of sunlight was deter-
mined by using the declination of the sun, the previously
derived tilt of the scanner axis relative to the lunar hori-
zon (See Paragraph 2a), and the angle between the azimuth
of the sun's ray and the azimuth of the inclined scanner
rotation axis. The angle of the sun above the local horizon
was derived by computing and combining the selenographic
MERIDIAN
MOON'S
PRIME
FIGURE b. SELENOGRAPHIC COORDINATE SYS.
++
+
VEHICLE REFERENCE
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reported in a Soviet Communique of
NPIC/R-5022/66
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The Law of Cosines was used to determine the angle
subtended at the moon's center between the vectors
extended to the sun and capsule. The sun angle is
the complement of the subtended angle (See Sketch B).
Sketch B
CAPSULE
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The Law of Sines was used to compute the azimuth of
the scanner axis at the time T0. Knowing that the azimuth
toward which the scanner rotation axis is inclined is approxi-
mately N 80?E, the angle between the scanner rotation
axis and the sun's ray was computed using direction cosines
(See Sketch C).
ANGLE BETWEEN SCANNER
AZIMUTH AND SUN AZIMUTH
Sketch C
Panorama
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3. Mirror Data
Tilt Sun Angle Azimuth
67? 07?27' 92?26'
59 ? 14?09' 93? 18'
42?30' 26?29' 95? 12'
29? 41?01' 98?13'
The three dihedral mirrors mounted on the capsule
image six areas of the lunar surface. Each mirror con-
sists of two plane surfaces intersecting at a 90-degree
angle. Mirrors one and two (See Figure 7) are of similar
size, are mounted on the outer edge of the capsule, and
are offset by 180 degrees. Mirror three which is smaller
than the other two is located closer to the scanner turret.
By printing the panorama negatives in reverse, the mirror
images were correlated to the conjugate lunar surface
images. Because the capsule was tilted, the imaged areas
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FIGURE 7. MIRROR DIAGRAM.
NPIC/R-5022/66
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vary in size and in distance from the capsule. Plots of
images from the right face of mirror two and the left
face of mirror one intersect at a point on the lunar sur-
face approximately six feet from the capsule. By using
the distance between the mirrors and the distance to the
point of intersection, the orientation of the mirrors was
determined to within plus or minus 1.5 degrees. Mirror
two was rotated approximately 2 degrees counterclock-
wise and mirror one was rotated approximately 12 degrees
clockwise about the vertical axis. Rotation about a verti-
cal axis was also indicated by the unequal imaging of the
mirror faces in the panorama. The faces of mirror three
were oriented at equal angles to the optical axis of the
scanner based on the equal imaging of the mirror faces in
the panorama. The faces of mirror one were not oriented
at equal angles to the optical axis based on the unequal
imaging of the faces in the panorama. The resolution of
the panorama did not permit detection of the 2 degree
rotation of mirror two. Mirrors one and two each occupy
approximately 3.7 degrees of the panorama and mirror three
occupies approximately 5.6 degrees. Stereoscopic viewing
was possible with the corrected mirror images but the
quality of the stereo image was at best poor.
4. Capsule Dimensions
Approximate dimensions of the Luna-9 capsule with
the petals closed and protective covering in place were
obtained from motion picture film T-6376. The height
of an average man was used as a basic scale factor.
That the man and capsule are equidistant from the camera
station and that both are in a vertical plane were assumed.
The interior orientation of the taking camera, the camera
attitude relative to a vertical datum, and an estimate of
the difference in distance from the capsule to the man in
a direction parallel to the optical axis were obtained.
Using a mensuration base established by the above method,
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FIGURE 8. LUNA-9 CAPSULE
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NPIC/R-50266
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the maximum diameter of the capsule was computed to
be 3 feet.
Employing ground photography of a Luna-9 display (Fair
of Permanent Achievement, Moscow), the height of an
average man was again used as a scale factor. Additional
assumptions were that the Luna-9 capsule is positioned in
the middle of the display and that the distance from the
man imaged in the background to the camera is twice
that of the capsule to the camera. Photo B-18 shows
clearly that Luna-9 is in the center of the display. The
primary photographs A-10 and A-12 were taken on op-
posite sides of the capsule. Image space distances (cap-
sule diameters, heights of support poles, and distances
between antenna end points) in both photographs agree
to within an average error of plus or minus 5 percent.
Since the scale and focal length remain constant between
the two photos, the distance from the exposure station
to the capsule is equal for both pictures. Therefore,
a vertical plane through the capsule normal to the
"air base" between the exposures stations bisects that
"air base". The diameter of the Luna-9 capsule may
then be ratioed directly at 1/2 the scale of the average
man. The capsule diameter (See Figure 8) with petals
unfolded and no protective covering was computed to be
2.18 feet (664.1 millimeters).
An article in the Soviet publication Aviation and
Space (Issue 3, 1966, page 9) states that the camera is
60 centimeters (1.97') above the surface. It is unknown if
this height refers to the scanner turret and accounts
for the tilt of the capsule, but the Soviet figures and those
computed from ground photography are very close. Based
on this agreement and the satisfactory scale agreements
between the various sources, the dimension 2.1811
was selected as a base for computing all other dimensions.
All Luna-9 capsule dimensions were then computed using
graphical and ratio techniques.
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5. Sizes and Distances of Objects
on Lunar Surface
The derived capsule dimensions enabled estimates
to be made of selected lunar surface features by
monoscopic methods. The approach involved some of
the same photogrammetric techniques used in high oblique
aerial photography. Given focal length, height, and orien-
tation, then the ground coordinates or size of any object
may be computed.
Mensuration of the Luna-9 capsule provides a basic
height of 2.02' to t of scanner axis. Since Luna-9 Is in
a tilted position, this dimension represents a slant range
rather than a height. The true height may then be com-
puted for each scan depending on the amount of tilt.
The effective focal length of Luna-9 may be com-
puted from the scale formula s = f/h. The photo dis-
tance of the photometric device was measured on the
panorama, its ground distance was computed from ground
photography, and the distance from the device to the
exposure station was known. To solve monoscopically,
it is also necessary to make use of the angular field of
view which was determined previously.
ANTENNA WITH POSSIBLE
PHOTOMETRIC DEVICE
1
WEST
,-T, 11T1111111 TI I THII;A~ FIGURE ,. OaR PN" CRT"' L OF LUNAR PANORAMA.
LOCATION OF AXIS OF ROTATION
YIP OF MIRROR I
/ I
NAR 1MARERY
11
LEFT FACE
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FOOT
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The dimensions for selected bits of lunar topography
were computed monoscopically and are approximations
only (See Figure 9).
Object Distance from Capsule Size
(Feet) (Inches)
Crater 1 2 3/4 6-9 diam
Rock 1 7-8 6
Rock 2 23 7-8
Rock 3 23 7-8
STEREO BASELINE
Two stereo pairs (See Figures 10 and 11) were
included to demonstrate the stereo viewing capability of the
The pairs were selected from the
capsule, a stereo base was approximated by using the
scanner height and the change in the tilt of the scanner
liar ; iaximum stereo base
axis caused by the rotation. m,~
for azimuths at N 10`W or S 1C`E was computed to be
1
y LUNAR IMAGERY
LUNAR IMAGERY / ON RIGHT FACE
ON LEFT FACE / A I OF MIRROR 1
OF MIRROR 2 / I
~/I Y
\1
ROCK 2
ROCK I
ROCK 3
/
MIRROR 3 / I ~1~1 FOOT ANTENNA
1\
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SOUTH
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approximately 2.04 inches. At azimuths of N 20?W and
N 20? E, the stereo base was computed to be 2.00 and
1.76 inches, respectively.
DIMENSIONS OF LUNA-9 SPACECRAFT
Dimensions of the Luna-9 spacecraft (See Figure 12)
were obtained from both the Soviet motion picture
T-6376 and photography of a Luna-9 display at the Fair
of Permanent Achievement, Moscow. Because of superior
imagery, the "Fair" photography was used as the primary
source of detail. The detail of the movie film was such
that only an overall length could be determined in addi-
tion to several dimensions to verify those obtained from
the 'Fair" photography. The difference in the overall
length as derived from the "Fair" photography and from
the movie film was less than 3.5 percent. An average
of the two values established the overall length of the
spacecraft as 12.16 feet. Employing the motion picture
photography, the spacecraft length was obtained graph-
ically by using the height of an average man as a scalar,
two ellipses from the spacecraft to establish correct
angular relationships, and an approximation of the dif-
ference in the distance from the man to the spacecraft
LOCATION OF AXIS OF ROTATION
III
LUNAR IMAGERY
ON RIGHT FACE
OF MIRROR 3
/f
MIRROR 2
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in a direction parallel to the optical axis (See Figure 13).
Utilizing the "Fair" photography, the overall spacecraft
length was computed in two sections. The front section
was ratioed from selected photographs using the capsule
diameter with the protective covering in place as a known
dimension. The rear section was graphically constructed
based on a derived scalar and two derived angular values
(See Figure 14). The scalar was the dimension of the
black band around the spacecraft just below the covered
capsule and was obtained by ratios. The angular values
were obtained by determining ellipses from the space-
craft.
The basic construction technique was to construct
an arbitrary object space line (center line of the Luna-9
spacecraft). The eccentricity of the two ellipses (images
of true circles) with minor axes lying along the object
space line was computed according to
sin-1 e _ image distance of minor axis
image distance of major axis
The angle (90"- e) was constructed from two arbitrarily
spaced points on the object space line. The angles were
extended to intersect at the camera lens.
A transparent overlay containing several points of the
photograph was constructed. The points representing the
top and bottom of the format, the principal point (approxi-
mated on cropped photography), two scale points, and the
centers of the two ellipses were connected bya line denoted
as the image space line. A line was constructed perpendi-
cular to the image space line passing through the principal
point and therefore passing through the focal point. The
resulting image space system is then positioned so that
the rays from the ellipses each pass through their respec-
tive transferred point on the overlay, and the optical
axis passes through the focal point. The image space
line is then located so that the tilt, angular field of view,
and focal length are correctly determined. Projecting
the images of the scale points onto the object space line
determined the scale. Other dimensions were deter-
mined by projecting the images onto the "scaled" object
space line. 25X1
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4
T
.92
1.28
1.83
1.06
1.71
i/i
4.28
1.66
LEFT
FRONT
FIGURE 12. LUNA-9 SPACECRAFT.
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ALL DIMENSIONS IN FEET
DRAWING NOT TO SCALE
RIGHT
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Blow-up focal length .911' `
TOP OF SPACECRAFT 1
UPPER ELLIPSE
Blow-up focal length .911'
NPIC/R-5022/66
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I FOCAL
I POINT
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I I
!I FOCAL POINT
Object Space Plane
(containing Soviet
technician)
Object Space Plane
(containing Luna-9 spacecraft)
LOWER ELLIPSE ,ri
I
PRINCIPAL POINT
(SECTIONAL VIEW)
INTERIOR ORIENTATION
Focal length ----- 12.31mm
Vert. field of view -28?30'
Horiz. field of view 38?48'
FIGURE 13. GRAPHICAL CONSTRUCTION OF LUNA-9 SPACECRAFT FROM MOVIE FILM.
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EXTERIOR ORIENTATION
a. Camera axis tilted 6? above
a horizontal plane,
b. Camera station elevated 3.8'
above floor.
c. Camera station 29.9' from plane
of Luna 9 spacecraft.
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SCALE
~ SCALE
PRINCIPAL POINT
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BLOW-UP FOCAL LENGTH .140'
LOWER ELLIPSE
END OF
SPACECRAFT
~- EDGE 0F-
FRAM j
(SECTIONAL VIEW)
INTERIOR ORIENTATION
Focal length--------51.50mm
Vert. field of view---25?1O'
Horiz. field of view---31?20'
NPIC/R-5022/25X1
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FIGURE 14. GRAPHICAL CONSTRUCTION OF PART OF LUNA-9 SPACECRAFT FROM GROUND PHOTOGRAPHY.
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REFERENCES
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1. Ground Photography from Luna-9 Exhibit at the Fair of Permanent Achievement, Moscow (USSR/1 901 0070 66/A1-A17G,
B1-B26G, D1-D17G) (Confidential)
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3. Soviet Film T-6376 ("Starry Road") (Secret)
4. JPL Technical Report 32-877, Digital Video-Data Handling (Unclassified)
5. Soviet newspaper accounts from Pravda, Tass, and others (Unclassified)
6. Soviet publication, Aviation and Space, Issue 3, 1966 (Unclassified)
7. Soviet Bloc Research in Geophysics, Astronomy, and Space No. 128, US Dept. of Commerce (Unclassified)
25X1 A 8.
and Aeronautics, May 1966 (Unclassified)
REQUIREMENT
CIA/FMSAC. C-DS6-83,440
NPIC PROJECT
22292/66
(USGS),"An Appreciation of Luna 9 Pictures," Astronautics
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NPIC/R-5022'g 1
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