Two-inch Return Beam Vidicon (RBV) multispectral three camera subsystem

A return beam vidicon multispectral three camera subsystem was developed and built as one of the two principal sensor payloads for the ERTS-A and -B missions. The performance of the cameras on ERTS-1 has been excellent, meeting or exceeding all expectations, especially in the area of geometric fidelity and stability. The three cameras are coaligned in the spacecraft to view the same square ground scene but in different spectral bands. When the separate images are processed and superimposed in their respective colors, they provide a single false color image containing the radiometric and cartographic information required for the ERTS system. The three spectral regions covered by the RBV subsystem are the blue-green red, and the near infrared. The three cameras are exposed simultaneously to facilitate registration of the three separate images into the final color composite.