The MACS aerial camera is designed to withstand harsh environment like temperatures below -30°C. It has a weight of ~15kg and consists of a computing unit and a sensor head. The sensor head is equipped with matrix array CCD/CMOS/thermal-infrared cameras and is mounted in the fuselage providing free view down. In order to fulfill respective application requirements, sensors, their geometry and spectral ranges are modified. Thus, particular conditions are considered, e.g. flying over brightly reflecting snow, acquisition of highly structured terrain or low flight altitudes without gaps of recorded ground surface. Currently the maximum continuous image acquisition rate is 4 frames per second enabling more than 60% overlap from an altitude of 100 m. | 