The origin and goals of the automated stellar proper motion survey

The historical background of the automation of the stellar proper motion survey is traced from its beginnings to the taking of the series of plates with the 48 inch Schmidt telescope at Mount Palomar covering 77% of the sky with 936 plates. The design goal for the automation is the documentation of the proper motions of stars from tenth through twentieth red magnitude. A typical scanning time for a pair of 14 inch star plates is projected to be about 45 minutes with the total processing time estimated at between one and two years for the complete set of plates.