ATS-3 experiments included VHF and C-band communications, a color spin-scan camera ( principally developed by Verner E . Suomi ), an image dissector camera, a mechanically despun antenna, resistojet thrusters, hydrazine propulsion, optical surface experiments, and the measurement of the electron content of the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
22.
The image dissector has no " charge storage " characteristic; the vast majority of electrons emitted by the photocathode are excluded by the scanning aperture, and thus wasted rather than being stored on a photo-sensitive target, as in the iconoscope or image orthicon ( see below ), which largely accounts for its low light sensitivity.
