The Kennedy Space Center Television System

The television requirements for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) provide a unique opportunity for systems design and development. Not only must the systems operate under extremely hostile environmental conditions, but they must also provide transmission and signal distribution over a wide geographical area, with minimal impact on the environment. The goal of the television plant at KSC is to provide to the various users — including the launch team, other NASA centers, and the media — an NTSC RS-170 television signal of the highest quality possible, to act as source material for image analysis, media programming, and launch commitment criteria decision making. The television and transmission systems, much like America's space program, have developed through an evolutionary process, with remnants of the 1960s' technology meshing efficiently with today's state-of-the-art systems and components. The future promises even greater challenges. This article describes the systems and philosophy for television at the Kennedy Space Center.

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

1991-07

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J08965