Author Topic: Apollo 16 far ultraviolet telescope s201 AS16-123 (Read 9306 times)

apollo16uvc · « **on:** 09/07/2017 06:23 pm »

Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by NASA, I have done this out of passion for the Apollo Program in my free time.

Files & information:

This set includes Apollo 16 UVC scans from NASA converted to JPGs by us.
Archive.org link:https://archive.org/details/AS16-123-JPG
7-9-2017 archive.org backup: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxS3Nsrmk63eMS1qMGdIT3VMU0E?usp=sharing

This set also includes unconverted scans from NASA, with a RAW prefix and .raw extension. The latter can not be read by conventional image software. For more information on how it was scanned, see NSSDC link below.

To get the RAW files, see 'Download options' window and click on 'SHOW ALL'

Why, and story:

The Apollo 16 UVC experiment photos are not all readily available on the internet. Original files have been received by NASA by asking here:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/datasetDisplay.do?id=ASUV-00017

We received the images.... and what we got were completely non-standard
files not readable by any image software. They appear to be raw bit
streams taken from the tape. Luckily, information on how they were
scanned and saved is available. But it still posed a challenge.

After writing a decoder for the files we received from NASA, we slowly but surely began to get recognizable images.

We continued to tweak the decoder, until we finally got acceptable results that looked like the few images online by NASA. We have converted them all to JPG and uploaded here.

At this website you can read how the raw files were decoded into image files viewable by modern operating systems: http://www3.telus.net/summa/faruv/explain.htm

Usefull Information:

The Revised S201 catalog of far-ultraviolet objects inspects some images in detail. A great source of information.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.

Later additions to archive:

I have added several S201 catalogs in PDF and txt format.
I have also added scans of other documents and papers, some of which were used at Houston.
I found a book about Apollo that has an AS16-123 frame, I photographed the book and uploaded the file as: ApolloDossiervanhetProject#.png
Read: DocumentINFORMATION.txt for more info.

Bonus slideshow:

plutogno · « **Reply #1 on:** 09/08/2017 09:53 am »

great work!
I suggest you share it on unmannedspaceflight.com where your work will surely be appreciated

Archibald · « **Reply #2 on:** 09/09/2017 06:46 pm »

Thanks for sharing. I never realized Apollo carried surface telescopes, even small ones.

the_other_Doug · « **Reply #3 on:** 09/10/2017 01:16 am »

Quote from: Archibald on 09/09/2017 06:46 pm

Thanks for sharing. I never realized Apollo carried surface telescopes, even small ones.

Well... only the one. I would have liked to see other types of relatively small telescopes deployed on the lunar surface during Apollo, but the Far UV telescope was the only one that got funded and flown.

One interesting factoid about it -- the backup flight unit from Apollo 16 was flown on the Skylab 4 mission and jury-rig lashed onto the ATM structure, to take UV images of Comet Kohoutek. Some decent images were actually returned.