This series comprises the contractual documentation for various projects Kopal undertook for the USAF, including for the Manchester Lunar programme.
Some of the most important contracts were:
- AF 61 (052)-168: Research on Lunar Photometric and Topographical Analysis (the original MLP project)
- AF 61 (052)-378: Spectrophotometric Study of the Lunar Surface
- AF 61 (052)-380: Research on Lunar Photometric and Topographic Analysis
- AF 61 (052) 496: Lunar and Photometric Topographical Analysis
- AF 61 (052)-524: Research into Methods of Determining Heights of Physiographic Features on the Moon
- AF 61 (052) 694, Development of a Reducing Camera for the One Metre Telescope and its use for Monochromatic Nebular photography
- AF 61 (052) 829, Lunar Photometric and Topographical Analysis/Photographic Photometry in the Imbrium/Procellarum Region of the Moon
The files include details of contracts plus reports submitted to the commissioning agency. There is also correspondence relating the project; other correspondence relating to these projects may be found in the main correspondence files series (KOP/1).
Correspondence is between ZK and USAF personnel, for example Contract Officers. EOAR USAF Discussions are around proposals for research, extending contracts, annual and technical reports, patent rights, use of US government property under various research contracts and grant aid for research projects.
Reports to the project sponsors and funders usually, USAF, EOAR, or NASA, comprise descriptions of research undertaken, project personnel and equipment. Technical reports were completed quarterly by the scientific administrator, usually one of the senior the research assistants from the University of Manchester, or other partner organisations, such as the observatory or organisation where the work took place, for example, Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees or the Jet Propulsion Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), USA. Annual reports were completed by the project's Principal Investigator, generally, ZK.