Space History Photo: Passive Millimeter Wave Camera (PMMWC) at TRW

The PMMWC was designed to see through various types of weather, smoke and dust. (Image credit: TRW photographer.)

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, engineers at TRW, Redondo Beach, California, in May of 1997, inspect the Passive Millimeter Wave Camera, a weather-piercing camera designed to see through fog, clouds, smoke and dust.

Operating in the millimeter wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, the camera creates visual-like video images of objects, people, runways, obstacles and the horizon. A demonstration camera (shown in photo) has been completed and is scheduled for checkout tests and flight demonstration.

Engineer (left) holds a compact, lightweight circuit board containing 40 complete radiometers, including antenna, monolithic millimeter wave integrated circuit (MMIC) receivers and signal processing and readout electronics that forms the basis for the camera's 1040-element focal plane array.

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