The USA Photographic Imagery Analysis Team has decades of imagery experience on the Space Shuttle Program and other test propulsion programs. The company has developed mature processes, techniques, and tools for Marshall Space Flight Center aerospace systems. Capabilities include test program planning, data analysis, and custom tool development.

The team is highly proficient in planning imagery operations of major ground and flight test of space vehicles. These activities include developing imagery acquisition requirements and distribution and reporting of imagery-derived information in support of engineering assessments.

The team approaches this work as an integrated effort by creating an operations concept that outlines those responsibilities and tasks. The team has the knowledge to define the imagery system requirements (e.g., ground or flight assets; visible or infrared assets; digital or film assets; stationary or tracking assets) for the test/flight imagery systems to ensure the required data is obtained to meet the test/flight objectives and verify performance requirements.

The team has experience working with imagery from high-speed film and high resolution digital imagery. USA Photo uses commercial analytical and in-house software tools developed to perform automated analyses.

The USA team has several key capabilities

• Photogrammetry
• Chrominance analysis
• 3-D trajectory determination
• Camera view prediction
• Automated object tracking
• Timeline development

USA expertise in custom software design has enabled photographic imagery analysis to be quickly distributed for timely resolution of test or flight issues. This capability greatly enhances the ability to confirm safe vehicle re-entry.

Additionally, the team has developed the expertise to read and analyze data from several commercial imagery systems allowing customization of the data without purchase of expensive tools.