Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites Secrets of the National Reconnaissance Office NRO Volume 6 CORONA America s First Satellite Program CIA and NRO Histories of Pioneering Spy Satellites written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites Secrets of the National Reconnaissance Office NRO Volume 9 National Reconnaissance Commentaries and Reviews written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites Secrets of the National Reconnaissance Office NRO Volume 8 History Volumes Management of the Program 1960 1965 Corona and Predecessor Programs written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers three aspects of military satellite programs: the Grab and Poppy ELINT satellites used for electronic intelligence; the MIDAS missile defense space-based infrared early warning satellites, and a history of the military polar orbiting meteorological satellite program. ELINT: Grab and Poppy were pioneering space reconnaissance activities during the 1960s. The intelligence these programs collected played a vital role in U.S. national security at the height of the Cold War. The programs succeeded only because of the creativity and perseverance of key contributors and others who participated in Grab and Poppy development and operation. MIDAS: After a security and policy review, late in 1998 Lt Gen Eugene L. Tattini, Commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, declassified MIDAS, an action that liberated its history to be shared with a much wider audience. This history compasses the origin and early years of space-based infrared (IR) sensors employed to detect the launch of ballistic missiles and, in time, the flash of ordnance detonated on Earth and in the atmosphere. It addresses the people, institutions, ideas, and machines brought to the task and their relationship to each other over a twelve-year period at the height of the Cold War, between 1955 and 1967. Beside treating the primary actions and events, it also attempts to account for the expectations and tensions that existed among the key participants: aerospace engineers who created the spacecraft and payload, their military superiors who anxiously sought an operational system, and still others in the Pentagon and Congress who doubted whether the technology would work, insisted on more research to demonstrate it, or sought to cancel the program after six ignominious flight failures. DMSP: Successful operation of overhead photoreconnaissance satellites, the RAND Corporation had warned the Air Force in the mid-1950s, (1) depended on accurate and timely meteorological forecasts of the Sino-Soviet landmass. Such forecasts would make possible cloud-free photography over areas of interest. Indeed, pictures of clouds retrieved from a film-limited spacecraft cost dearly-a fact made plain in 1960-1961 by the images returned from early CORONA missions. NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers the SAMOS satellite camera system and the incredible story of NASA's use of the camera in its highly successful Lunar Orbiter moon mapping program. The previously classified documents in this collection were released by the NRO in September 2011 as part of its 50th anniversary. In declassifying these fascinating documents, the NRO has opened the curtain to show the tremendous challenges that were overcome to achieve the impressive successes that help win the Cold War. Conceived in the mid-1950s, the novel SAMOS imaging system at that time represented cutting edge technology-a near real time analog film-readout satellite. The Eastman Kodak Company built the E-1 (preliminary) and E-2 (advanced) payloads. The E-1 featured a six-inch focal length lens in a camera that spooled a special two-component EKC Bimat (positive) film, and SO-243 (negative) film. The exposed negative film, converged with the gelatin-coated SO-111 Bimat film, was developed in a semi-dry chemical process, and then was scanned by a Columbia Broadcasting System flying spot line-scanner that consisted of a cathode-ray tube and a rotating anode having a high intensity spot of light. A photomultiplier converted the light passing from the scanner through the film into an electrical signal whose strength varied with the density of the emulsion layer of the film. The images were then radioed to Earth as frequency-modulated analog signals, to be assembled much in the manner of a wire photo, each image built up in swaths. Having acquired, launched, and then terminated work on a near real time imaging satellite, NRO officials at that time agreed to consign the SAMOS imaging system to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use in its deep space exploration program. The surreptitious transfer of this technology, a fact just recently declassified, has remained unknown to many in the NRO and NASA because of the compartmented security measures then in place. The first three of the Lunar Orbiters completed the original task of obtaining detailed photographs needed to select Apollo landing sites. That left the last two film-readout near real time imaging satellites available to photo-map virtually the entire moon and examine in detail various surface features. Collectively, these images of the Earth's natural satellite proved a selenographic bonanza that paved the way for Project Apollo's manned lunar landings later in the decade. NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers the historic CORONA spy satellite program, called America's first satellite program. Histories from the NRO and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) cover all aspects of CORONA. Since the CORONA satellite made its first successful flight in August 1960, the Intelligence Community's overhead reconnaissance programs have been among the nation's most closely guarded secrets. The end of the Cold War, however, has at last made it possible to declassify both information and imagery from the first American satellite systems of the 1960s. The CORONA reconnaissance satellites revolutionized the collection of intelligence in the 1960s. This was a time when it was still extraordinarily difficult to gather information by any other means from "denied areas" including the Soviet Union, Communist China, and their allies. The need for intelligence about Soviet strategic weapon systems and bases dramatically increased after 1 May 1960, when the Soviets shot down an American U-2 aircraft and captured its CIA pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Within a few months, however, on 18 August the United States launched its first successful reconnaissance satellite, which in one mission provided more photographic coverage of the Soviet Union than all previous U-2 missions. On 19 August 1960, the recovery of Mission 9009 with a KH-1 camera marked the beginning of the CORONA reconnaissance satellite program's long and valuable service. The story of this program's success is one of the most remarkable in the annals of American science and intelligence. While orbiting the earth, CORONA concentrated principally on photographing the USSR and China. One intelligence community study summarized CORONA's efforts over the Soviet Union: CORONA's initial major accomplishment was imaging all Soviet medium-range, intermediate-range, and intercontinental ballistic missile launching complexes. CORONA also identified the Plesetsk Missile Test Range, north of Moscow. Repetitive coverage of centers like Plesetsk provided information as to what missiles were being developed, tested, and/or deployed. Also, the unequivocal fact of observation gave the United States freedom from concern over many areas and locations which had been suspect in the past. NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers two volumes in the History of Satellite Reconnaissance series by Robert L. Perry. Volume V deals with the management of the national reconnaissance program from 1960 to 1965; Volume 1 deals with Corona and predecessor reconnaissance satellite activities. VOLUME V - This portion of A History of Satellite Reconnaissance is concerned with the creation, growth, and travails of the National Reconnaissance Program in the years between 1960 and late 1965. Events and people, causes and effects that both call for and represent "management" are its substance. Its focus is the headquarters establishment - the staff and its activities - although the account extends to events which bore on the central theme without being essentials of it. Mostly having to do with the management of individual programs or with technical and . operational aspects of those programs, these events are treated in other volumes in this set. Volume I - This volume of A History of Satellite Reconnaissance is principally concerned with the Corona program, although it necessarily deals with predecessor reconnaissance satellite activities (Project Feedback, the Advanced Reconnaissance System, Weapon System 117L," Samos," "Sentry " and several other short-lived activities), with concurrent and alternative programs (the several Samos E-series projects, Argon, Lanyard, and various Corona variants), and with successor programs. NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers the Gambit photoreconnaissance satellite flown between 1963 and 1984. The previously classified documents in this collection were released by the NRO in September 2011 as part of its 50th anniversary. In declassifying these fascinating documents, the NRO has opened the curtain to show the tremendous challenges that were overcome to achieve the impressive successes that help win the Cold War. CORONA was the first successful program in applying space vehicles to overflight reconnaissance operations. In its several evolutionary versions, CORONA steadily improved its photographic surveys of denied areas (with final resolutions of six to ten feet), operating in what the Intelligence Community calls "search mode." GAMBIT was developed to perform at even better resolutions than CORONA and work against specified targets-an operation usually referred to as "surveillance mode." GAMBIT fulfilled this surveillance function from July 1963 to April 1984. Although Corona provided the capability to search large areas from space, the U.S. still lacked high resolution imagery. Approximately one year after the first launch of Corona, the National Reconnaissance Office began development of its first high resolution satellite program, codenamed Gambit. Over time, the Gambit program evolved into two different systems. The first Gambit system, launched in 1963, was equipped with the 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. Intelligence users often characterized this capability as surveillance, allowing the United States to track the advancement of Soviet and others' capabilities. The second system, Gambit 3 was equipped with the KH-8 camera system that included a 175-inch focal length camera. The system was first launched in 1966 and provided the U.S. with exquisite surveillance capabilities from space for nearly two decades. The NRO launched a final system, codenamed Hexagon, in 1971 to improve upon Corona's capability to search broad and wide denied areas for threats to the United States. The system sometimes carried a mapping camera to aid in U.S. military war planning. The United States depended on these search and surveillance satellites to understand the capabilities, intentions, and advancements of those who opposed the United States during the Cold War. Together they became America's essential eyes in space. Here is an excerpt from one of the documents about Gambit: "Earlier in the day the launch crew had notified Greer that during the final checkout they had uncovered a fault in the Atlas booster that would either force delay or cause reliance on a component not tested to the extent required by specifications. Shouldering aside the oppressive memory of unbroken failures and "partial successes" in the E-5 and E-6 programs, Greer ordered continuation of the countdown. It was a personal decision, taken without consultation with others, based as much on instinct as on the confidence of a program director who had done all that could be done to insure success. For an instant during the launch itself, most observers experienced the horrified conviction that the decision had been wrong, that disaster had come again to the Air Force satellite reconnaissance program. The splashing rocket exhaust of the Atlas knocked out all electrical connections to telemetry and cameras, giving the impression of a major launch stand explosion to observers at Sunnyvale and El Segundo. But seconds later the signals began to come through again, and they said that the Atlas was climbing stolidly toward its selected launch window."
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers the Hexagon photoreconnaissance satellite flown between 1971 and 1986. The previously classified documents in this collection were released by the NRO in September 2011 as part of its 50th anniversary. In declassifying these fascinating documents, the NRO has opened the curtain to show the tremendous challenges that were overcome to achieve the impressive successes that help win the Cold War. Hexagon, with its multiple recovery buckets and extended mission life, moved the U.S. closer to achieving continuous space imaging capability. Hexagon's primary panoramic camera provided improved search coverage and resolution. Hexagon's mapping camera provided global geodetic positioning, accurate point locations for military operations, and data for military targeting. At precisely 10:41 A.M., Pacific Standard Time, on June 15, 1971, the first of America's fourth generation photographic reconnaissance satellites (Hexagon program) lifted off a pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California. This event was the result of 57 months of intensive effort to design, manufacture, and assemble a revolutionary new intelligence collection system, thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, and administrators in various government and industrial facilities throughout the United States were involved in making it happen. Here is an excerpt from one of the documents about Hexagon: "During its 13-year life, HEXAGON provided a unique collection capability which may never again be achieved by US imagery satellites. Its ability to cover thousands of square nautical miles with contiguous, cloud-free, high-resolution imagery in a single operation* provided US intelligence users and mapping, charting, and geodesy (MC&G) organizations with vast amounts of nearly simultaneous contiguous coverage. Order-of-battle information across entire Soviet military districts could be achieved in a short timeframe. Sino-Soviet military tactics could be studied and determined by analyzing imagery of Warsaw Pact, Soviet, and Chinese large-scale exercises. HEXAGON provided the best MC&G support ever furnished to the user community-large-scale contiguous imagery within specified geometric accuracies."
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers the history of the NRO as an organization, along with documents outlining its strategic vision and plans. Contents include: Section 1: NRO At 50 Years - A Brief History Section 2: National Reconnaissance Office - The Nation's Eyes And Ears In Space Section 3: A National Reconnaissance Pocket History: Foundation For The Future Section 4: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems For National Security Section 5: The NRO At Forty: Ensuring Global Information Supremacy Section 6: National Reconnaissance Almanac Section 7: National Reconnaissance Office 2009 Strategic Plan NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume reproduces interesting reviews and commentaries from National Reconnaissance, Journal of the Discipline and Practice, and Space Sentinel Select. Articles include: Risk Management and National Reconnaissance From the Cold War Up to the Global War on Terrorism National Reconnaissance Leadership for the 21st Century: Lessons from the NRO's Heritage One Officer's Perspective: The Decline of the National Reconnaissance Office Commentary on "The Decline of the National Reconnaissance Office"- The NRO Leadership Replies Recapturing What Made the NRO Great: Updated Observations on "The Decline of the NRO" Pioneers Of National Reconnaissance Protecting Sources and Methods versus the Public's Right to Know: Setting the Terms for a More Constructive Discussion The Rationale for Classifying Intelligence Information From Camp Incarceration to U.S. National Reconnaissance: The Case of Two Americans of Japanese Ancestry- NRO Pioneer Sam Araki and Former DDNRO Dr. F. Robert Naka Reflections of M. Sam Araki-Success Through Systems Engineering and Leading Lockheed Missiles and Space The Implications of Losing Focus: The Need for the NRO to Change Its Business Practices In Harm's Way Recipe for Acquisition SECTION 1: National Reconnaissance, Journal of the Discipline and Practice, Issue 2005-U1 SECTION 2: National Reconnaissance, Journal of the Discipline and Practice, Winter 2009 / 2010 Issue 2009-U SECTION 3: Space Sentinel Select Volume 1, Number 1, 2009 SECTION 4: Space Sentinel Select Volume 2, Number 1, 2010 NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book 20th Century Spy in the Sky Satellites written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-17 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part of our comprehensive series on the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and its "spy satellite" network, this volume covers additional aspects of the history of the NRO as an organization, with a special focus on leaders, pioneers, and founders. It also includes the "lost" Volume IV history written by Robert Perry. Contents include: Section 1: Pioneers of National Reconnaissance Section 2: Program Directors of The NRO - ABC & D Section 3: Founders of National Reconnaissance Section 4: Leaders of The National Reconnaissance Office 1961-2001 Section 5: Directors of The National Reconnaissance Office at 50 Years Section 6: NRO History - Robert Perry -Identified by the NRO History Staff on 10 June 1999 as Being Robert Perry's Volume IV NRO designs, builds and operates the nation's reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment. As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U. S. Government and Armed Forces. A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program. The NRO Vision: Vigilance From Above. NRO Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security. In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994.
Download or read book Eye in the Sky written by Dwayne Day and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2015-05-26 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting the full story of the CORONA spy satellites' origins, Eye in the Sky explores the Cold War technology and far-reaching effects of the satellites on foreign policy and national security. Arguing that satellite reconnaissance was key to shaping the course of the Cold War, the book documents breakthroughs in intelligence gathering and achievements in space technology that rival the landing on the moon.
Download or read book Eye in the Sky written by Dwayne A. Day and published by Turtleback. This book was released on 1999-08-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting the full story of the Corona spy satellite program, Eye in the Sky documents not only one of the most important breakthroughs in twentieth-century intelligence gathering but also an achievement in space technology that rivals the landing on the moon.
Download or read book Secret Spy Satellites written by Timothy R. Gaffney and published by Enslow Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of the development of spy satellites beginning with the Corona in the 1950s; includes information about space surveillance over the Soviet Union and secrecy of the program.
Download or read book Spies in the Sky written by Pat Norris and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Patrick Norris responds to the 50th Anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age – the launch of Sputnik 1 – with a review of the most important historical applications of space science for the benefit of the human race during that half century, focusing on the prevention of nuclear war. In developing this story Norris illuminates a little-known aspect of the Space Age, namely the military dimension.
Download or read book Spy Satellites written by Paul Kupperberg and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2002-12-15 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history, technology, and uses of spy satellites, looking especially at the various reconnaissance satellite programs of the United States, from the mid-twentieth century to the present.