DEVELOPMENT OF A MICROGRAVITY FILM PROCESSOR

CONVENTIONAL FILM PROCESSING TECHNIQUES ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR USE IN LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS, BECAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTIES ASSOCIATED WITH CONFINING FREE LIQUIDS WHILE PERMITTING THE INTRODUCTION AND TRANSPORT OF ROLL FILMS INTO AND THROUGH THESE LIQUIDS. IN THIS TECHNIQUE, VISCOUS PROCESSING SOLUTIONS ARE EXTRUDED IN THIN LAYERS ONTO THE FILMS EMULSION SURFACE AND RAPIDLY PROCESS THE FILM. ARCHIVAL QUALITY PROCESSING IS ACHIEVED. THIS PROCESS WILL FUNCTION WELL IN A MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT AND WILL MAKE EFFICIENT USE OF SPACE AND POWER. IT ALSO IS A PROVEN TECHNOLOGY NOT REQUIRING MAJOR ADVANCES IN THE STATE OF THE PHOTO-PROCESSING ART.