us spy satellite program
In all, 54 of the satellites were launched, with four failures recorded. The satellite program's initial system, GAMBIT 1, first launched in 1963 carrying a KH-7 camera system that included a "77-inch focal length camera for providing specific information on scientific and technical capabilities that threatened the nation," according to an NRO description. The satellite series' initial version was 15 feet (4.5 m) long and 5 feet (1.5 m) wide, and weighed about 1,154 pounds (523 kilograms). Die Betreiber dieses Portals begrüßen Sie zu Hause hier. [10 Ways the Government Watches You]. After the capsule discarded its heat shield at 60,000 feet, it deployed a parachute and could either be nabbed by a passing plane equipped with a claw hook (above) or land safely in the ocean where it would float for two days awaiting pickup. Wir haben uns dem Ziel angenommen, Produkte verschiedenster Art zu analysieren, damit Interessierte schnell und unkompliziert den Us satellit ausfindig machen können, den Sie möchten. The GAMBIT 1 series satellite has a resolution similar to the HEXAGON series, about 2 to 3 feet, but the follow-up GAMBIT 3 system had an improved resolution of better than 2 feet, NRO documents reveal. As long as the intelligence justified the price tag, any cost was acceptable. Oversight from the DoD and Congress was virtually non-existent save for the "open-checkbook" policy of the times. Military space historian Dwayne A. An aircraft would catch the return capsule in mid-air by snagging its parachute following the canister's re-entry. As such, the US invested vast sums of money into high-altitude research—from early "weather balloons" to the SR-71 Blackbird and U2 Dragon Lady to orbital telescopes—and established not one but three Federal agencies—the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—all in an effort to glean any speck of information that could give us an advantage. The program began in 1959 at the Onizuka Air Force Station, ran until 1972, and was declassified in 1995 by President Clinton. Phil Pressel, designer of the HEXAGON's panoramic 'optical bar' imaging cameras, agreed with Day's assessment. As NASA scrambled to send up a manned repair mission, the NRO launched a new Gambit, which snapped this picture and helped NASA engineers plan accordingly. This ability came in handy in 1973. And nowhere is this more evident than in the development of the US spy satellite fleet during the Cold War. The ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] information gathered helps steer national policy decisions for everything from mundane trade negotiations to the blackest of ops. "During the era of these satellites — the GAMBIT and the HEXAGON — there was a Director of Central Intelligence committee known as the 'Committee on Imagery Requirements and Exploitation' that was responsible for that type of planning," confirmed the NRO's Robert McDonald, Director of the Center for the Study of National Reconnaissance. Former International Space Station flight controller Rob Landis, now technical manager in the advanced projects office at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, drove more than three hours to see the veil lifted from these legendary spacecraft. Us satellit - Der absolute Gewinner . Because tonight we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out, our guesses were way off. Pictures from space! As President Lyndon B. Johnson famously quipped in 1967 after a Soviet hoax led to worries of a bomber gap: I wouldn't want to be quoted on this ... We've spent $35 or $40 billion on the space program. In welcher Häufigkeit wird der Us satellit voraussichtlich benutzt? The HEXAGON's final launch in April 1986 — just months after the space shuttle Challenger explosion — also met with disaster as the spy satellite's Titan 34D booster erupted into a massive fireball just seconds after liftoff, crippling the NRO's orbital reconnaissance capabilities for many months. Editor's note: This story was updated on Sept. 19 to correct the name of Phil Pressel, who designed the HEXAGON spy satellite camera system. The 144-member family of Corona satellites—each designated Keyhole-#, or KH-#, depending on the spacecraft iteration—were produced and operated by the CIA in conjunction with the USAF and provided invaluable photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union as well as the People's Republic of China, and other Communist countries. The KH-11 KENNAN is the most advanced recon satellite to be unclassified. The KH-5 ARGON ran in conjunction with Corona from 1961 to 1964, though never with the same degree of success. The images the CIA used to find Osama bin Laden's hideout were reportedly supplied by the KENNAN. They also a began surviving longer. Us satellit Bewertungen. Unlike the follow-up HEXAGON satellites, the GAMBIT series were designed for extremely short missions. By KH-3, optical improvements decreased that figure to 20 feet. It would then either drop the roll as the Coronas did or automatically develop the photographs, scan them, and transmit the images back to Earth in as little as 20 minutes through the Film Read-Out GAMBIT (FROG) feature (though after $2 billion dollars and nearly a decade of development the 1971 administration nix(on)ed it). Sodass Sie als Kunde mit Ihrem Us satellit danach rundum glücklich sind, hat unsere Redaktion auch noch alle unpassenden Produkte im Test rausgesucht und gar nicht mit in die Liste aufgenommen. And if nothing else had come out of it except the knowledge that we gained from space photography, it would be worth ten times what the whole program has cost. It wasn't until the early 1990's that any information on these devices was declassified, after the fall of the Soviet Union brought an end to the Cold War. As large as a school bus, the KH-9 HEXAGON carried 60 miles of high resolution photographic film for space surveillance missions. Heck, the NRO was established in 1961 and operated for three decades before the government even ever acknowledged its existence. ", The 'convergence or confluence' theory was confirmed later in the day by a former spacecraft designer, who declined to be named but is familiar with both programs, who confided unequivocally: "The space shuttle's payload bay was sized to accommodate the KH-9." The brand new Skylab had just launched when its meteoroid shield broke loose and damaged the space station. Saturday's spysat unveiling was attended by a number of jubilant NRO veterans who developed and refined the classified spacecraft and its components for decades in secret, finally able to show their wives and families what they actually did 'at the office' for so many years. The only successful flight returned 910 photographic frames. The KH-11 KENNAN is the most advanced recon satellite to be unclassified. 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