- Astrocam
The Astrocam is a
model rocket with a built-in camera for taking aerialphotograph s.The Astrocam comes from the American manufacturer
Estes and it can be flown by B6-4-and C6-7-propellants. The Astrocam was available as kit or as ready-to-fly model. The camera used110 film and was mounted in the nose cone of the rocket with the aperture perpendicular to the main axis of the rocket. A mirror held in a hood was used like aperiscope to enable the camera to look rearward. The camera needs to be manually advanced and "cocked" by pulling a string attached to spring-loaded shutter taut. When thenose cone is placed on the rocket body, the string is placed between the nose cone and the body so that when the ejection charge of the engine expels the nose cone, the string is released causing one frame of film to be exposed. Since the rocket is not steerable, the photographer can not determine what the camera will photograph.A version of the Astrocam called the Astrocam 110 is also available, and the Estes Snapshot is very similar as well. [http://www.estesrockets.com/products.php?number=1327] A modern version of the Astrocam is the Oracle, which shoots video. A newer video version, called the
Astrovision , is also available.External links
* [http://www.estesrockets.com/products.php?number=1327 Astrocam 110 product page]
* [http://www.estesrockets.com/ Estes company homepage]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
