Aerial photograph of Swedish landscape taken by rocket, 1897 losslesscrop

The Maul Camera Rocket was a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

for

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

developed by

Alfred Maul Alfred Maul (1870–1942) was a German engineer who could be thought of as the father of aerial reconnaissance. Maul, who owned a machine works, experimented from 1900 with small solid-propellant sounding rockets. Background Although people had lo ...

's company from 1903 to 1912. The Maul Camera Rocket was demonstrated in 1912 to the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n Army and tested as a means for

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

in the Turkish-Bulgarian War in 1912/1913. It was not used afterwards, because

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

were much more effective. The Maul Camera Rocket had a maximum flight altitude of 1 kilometre (3,300 ft), a launch mass of 42 kg (93 pounds), a diameter of 0.32 metre (12½ inches), a length of 6 metres (19 ft 8 in) and a fin span of 0.35 metres (1 ft 2 in).

External links

astronautix.com
Experimental rockets Military sensor technology Military intelligence Photography equipment Aerial photography {{rocket-stub