HERCULES
Hand-held Earth-oriented Real-time Cooperative, User-friendly,
Location, targeting, and Environmental System (Hercules) spaceborne
experiment equipment is a
joint NAVY-NASA-ARMY payload designed to provide real-time high resolution
digital electronic imagery and geolocation (latitude and longitude
determination) of earth surface targets of interest. HERCULES system
consists of a specially modified GRID Systems
portable computer mounted atop NASA developed Playback-Downlink Unit (PDU)
and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed HERCULES Attitude
Processor (HAP); the NASA-developed Electronic Still Camera (ESC)
Electronics Box (ESCEB) including removable imagery data storage disks and
various connecting cables; the ESC (a NASA modified Nikon F-4 camera)
mounted atop the NRL HERCULES Inertial Measurement Unit (HIMU) containing
the three-axis ring-laser gyro. The HERCULES camera was flown on STS-53 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, Department of Defense (DOD)
mission
Atlanta, Georgia
Photo ID: STS056(E)020
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows
metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia at night as recorded on the 64th orbit of
Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. The image was recorded using an image
intensifier on HERCULES. Center coordinates on this image are 33.738
degrees north latitude and 84.414 degrees west longitude. Digital file
name is ESC04030.IMG.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Photo ID: STS056(E)013
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows
Charlotte, North Carolina at night as photographed from Discovery, Orbiter
Vehicle (OV) 103. The image was recorded with an image intensifier on HERCULES. Center coordinates on this image are 35.221
degrees north latitude and 80.847 degrees west longitude.
Chicago
Photo ID: STS056(E)007
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows Chicago,
Illinois with part of the shoreline of Lake Michigan at night as
photographed during orbit 33 from Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103.
The image was recorded with an image intensifier on the HERCULES device. Center
coordinates of this frame are 41.8 degrees north latitude and 87.7 degrees
west longitude. The image was acquired at 1/60-second shutter speed and
-2/3 exposure compensation.
Darwin, Australia
Photo ID: STS056(E)002
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image taken aboard
Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, is of Darwin, Australia. The image was
recorded with a 180mm lens on the HERCULES. In this observation, the center
coordinates are 12.433 degrees south latitude and 130.939 degrees east
longitude. Geolocation accuracy on this image is 2.3 nautical miles.
Digital file name is ESC01037.IMG.
Lansing,
Michigan
Photo ID: STS056(E)006
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows Lansing,
Michigan at night as photographed during orbit 33 from Discovery, Orbiter
Vehicle (OV) 103. The image was recorded with an image intensifier on the
HERCULES device. Center coordinates of this frame are 42.7
degrees north latitude and 84.5 degrees west longitude. The image was
acquired at 1/60-second shutter speed and -2/3 exposure compensation.
Melbourne, Australia
Photo ID: STS056(E)014
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image is of
Melbourne, Australia and was photographed from Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle
(OV) 103. The image was recorded with a 300mm lens on the HERCULES. Center
coordinates of this frame are 37.49 degrees south latitude and 144.58
degrees east longitude. North will be at the top if the picture is held
with the thin trail of clouds at left edge, moving over Port Phillip Bay
into Hobsons Bay.
Nagoya,
Japan
Photo ID: STS056(E)018
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows Nagoya,
Japan as recorded on the 44th orbit of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103.
Lomas Point and the town of Yuaca are visible in the frame. The image was
recorded by the HERCULES device. Center coordinates are 34.991 degrees north
latitude and 136.870 degrees east longitude. (180mm lens, no filter).
Digital file name is ESC06023.IMG.
New York City
Photo ID: STS056(E)016
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows New York
City at night as recorded on the 64th orbit of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle
(OV) 103. The image was recorded with an image intensifier on the HERCULES. Center coordinates on this image are 40.665
degrees north latitude and 74.048 degrees west longitude. (1/60 second
exposure).
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photo ID: STS056(E)015
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image shows
metropolitan Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at night as recorded on the 48th
orbit of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. The image was recorded with
an image intensifier on the HERCULES. Center coordinates on this image
are 39.970 degrees north latitude and 75.157 degrees west longitude.
St. Louis, Missouri
Photo ID: STS056(E)005
STS-56 electronic still camera (ESC) Earth observation image taken aboard
Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, shows St. Louis, Missouri at night and
was photographed during orbit 33. The image was recorded with an image
intensifier on the HERCULES. In this observation, the center coordinates are
38.6 degrees north latitude and 90.2 degrees west longitude. The image was
acquired at 1/60-second shutter speed and -2/3 exposure compensation.
http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/hercules.htm
Created by John Pike
Maintained by Webmaster
Updated Thursday, January 30, 1997