9126

Apollo Maurer DAC 18mm Lens (Modified)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Apollo Maurer DAC 18mm Lens (Modified)

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2022 Apr 21 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Kern Switar 18mm f/1:1.0 camera lens intended for use with the Maurer DAC (Data Acquisition Camera), evidently modified by NASA for use in a particular experiment. The lens measures 2.75" long and 1.75" in diameter, and is hand-annotated with NASA part numbers near the mount: "SEB 33100018-301." This lens has the standard 16mm Data Acquisition Camera (DAC) lens mount. The lens has had the aperture control ring disabled, and a fixed aperture has been installed. Both the focus and aperture rings do turn, but the aperture ring does not change the diaphragm and it is not certain if the focus ring is operational.

Designed and manufactured by J. A. Maurer of Long Island, New York, the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera was used to obtain sequential photographic data during the manned flights of Project Apollo and Skylab. This type of lens is described in the "Handbook of Pilot Operational Equipment for Manned Space Flight, Report No. CD42-A/SL-997," published by NASA in June 1973: "18 mm. Lens (SEB33100018): The 18 mm. Lens has the largest relative aperture of the DAC system and is the widest field-of-view lens that can be used with the Right Angle Mirror…The lens is especially useful for vehicle-to-vehicle docking and detailed interior photography." It lists the "-301" suffix as a "significant configuration," describing its purpose as "Apollo and Skylab flight unit; standard mirror interface." This variant would typically have the right-angle mirror mount and focus and aperture tabs, all of which are absent on this example. The optics do not appear to have been modified.