The Corona program is a series of strategic American reconnaissance satellites that are manufactured and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science & amp; Technology with substantial help from the US Air Force. The Corona satellites were used for Soviet photography surveillance (USSR), People's Republic of China, and other areas that began in June 1959 and ended in May 1972. The program's name is sometimes seen as "CORONA", but the actual name "Corona" is password, not an acronym.
Video Corona (satellite)
History and cost
Corona began with the name "Discoverer" as part of the US Air Force's WE-117L surveillance and protection program in 1956. The WS-117L is based on recommendations and designs from RAND Corporation. The United States Air Force credits Onizuka Air Force Station as "the birthplace of the Corona program." In May 1958, the Department of Defense directed the transfer of the WS-117L program to the Advanced Research Project Agency. In FY1958, WS-117L was funded by AF at the level of US $ 108.2 million (inflation adjusted to US $ 0.92 billion in 2018). For Discoverer, the Air Force and ARPA spent a combined amount of US $ 132.3 million on FY1959 (inflation adjusted to US $ 1.11 billion in 2018) and US $ 101.2 million in FY1960 (inflation adjusted to US $ 0.84 billion in 2018 ). According to John N. McMahon, the total cost of the CORONA program reaches US $ 850 million.
The Corona project was pushed forward quickly following the shooting of a U-2 spy plane over the Soviet Union in May 1960.
Maps Corona (satellite)
Technology
The Corona satellite uses a special 70 millimeter film with a 24-inch (610 mm) long camera. Produced by Eastman Kodak, the film was originally 0.0003 inches (7.6 m) thick, with a resolution of 170 lines per 0.04 inch (1.0 mm) film. The contrast is 2-to-1. (For comparison, the best aerial photography film produced in World War II can produce only 50 lines per mm (1250 per inch) of film.) The acetate-based film is then replaced with a more durable polyester-based film stock in earth orbit. The number of movies carried by satellites varies over time. Initially, each satellite carries 8,000 feet (2,400 m) of film for each camera, with a total film of 16,000 feet (4,900 m). But the reduction in film stock thickness allows more movies to be carried. In the fifth generation, the number of films that were brought was doubled to 16,000 feet (4,900 m) of film for each camera with a total of 32,000 feet (9,800 m) of film. This is achieved by decreasing film thickness and with additional film capsules. Most of the movies are black and white. Infrared films were used on mission 1104, and colored films on missions 1105 and 1008. The color film proved to have lower resolutions, so it was never used again.
The cameras were manufactured by Itek Corporation. 12 inch (30 cm) triplet lens, f/5 designed for camera. Each lens is 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter. They are very similar to the Tessar lens developed in Germany by Zeiss. The camera itself was originally 5 feet (1.5 m) long, but was later extended to 9 feet (2.7 m) in length. Starting with the KH-4 satellite, the lens is replaced with Petzval f/3.5 lens. The lenses are panoramic, and move through a 70 Â ° arc perpendicular to the direction of its orbit. Panorama lens is selected because it can obtain a wider image. Although the best resolution is only obtained at the center of the image, this can be overcome by having the camera sweep automatically ("reply") back and forth in the 70 ° bow. The lens on the camera continues to spin, to counteract the fuzzy effects of satellites moving over the planet.
The first Corona satellite had one camera, but the two camera system was quickly implemented. The front camera is tilted 15 Â ° to the rear, and the rear camera is tilted 15 Â ° forward, so a stereoscopic image can be obtained. Later in the program, the satellite uses three cameras. A third camera is used to capture "index" photos of objects that are stereographed. The J-3 camera system, first used in 1967, puts the camera in a drum. This "rotator camera" (or drum) moves back and forth, eliminating the need to move the camera itself on a reciprocal mechanism. The drum allows the use of up to two filters and as many as four different exposure slots, greatly improving the variability of the images that Corona can take. The first camera can finish the image on the ground up to 40 feet (12 m) in diameter. Improvements in the imaging system take place quickly, and the KH-3 mission can see objects of 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter. The next mission will be able to complete the object only with a diameter of 5 feet (1.5 m). One mission is completed with a resolution of 1 foot (0.30 m) but a limited field of view is determined to damage the mission. The 3 foot (0.91 m) resolution is found as the optimal resolution for image quality and field of view.
The early Corona mission suffered a mysterious frontier fog and bright lines that appeared irregularly on the return film. Finally, a team of scientists and engineers from the project and from academia (including Luis Alvarez, Sidney Beldner, Malvin Ruderman, Arthur Glines, and Sidney Drell) determined that electrostatic discharge (called coronal release) caused by some component of the camera exposes the film. Corrective steps include better grounding of components, improved film rolls that do not generate static electricity, enhanced temperature control, and a cleaner internal environment. Although improvements are made to reduce the corona, the final solution is to load the film tube with the full load of the film and then feed the unexposed film through the camera to the take-up reel without exposure. This unexposed film is then processed and checked for corona. If nothing is found or the corona is observed at an acceptable level, the tube is certified to be used and loaded with a fresh film for the launch mission.
The first satellite in the program orbits at an altitude of 100 miles (160 km) above the Earth's surface, although the mission then orbits even lower at 75 miles (121 km)). Initially, the Corona satellites are designed to spin along their main shaft so that the satellites will remain stable. The camera will take a photo only when it points to Earth. The Itek camera company, however, proposes to stabilize satellites along all three axes - keeping the camera permanently pointed to the earth. Starting with the KH-3 version of the satellite, the horizon camera takes pictures of several key stars. A sensor uses a satellite side-push rocket to align the rocket with these "index stars", so that it is completely parallel to Earth and the camera is pointing in the right direction. Beginning in 1967, two horizon cameras were used. This system is known as Dual Standing Stellar Index Camera (DISIC).
The satellite is calibrated using a targeting system located outside Casa Grande, Arizona. The targets consist of concrete arrows located in and to the south of the city, and help calibrate satellite cameras.
Recovery
The film is taken from orbit through reentry capsule (nicknamed "bucket film"), designed by General Electric, which is separated from the satellites and dropped to earth. After a heat storm reentered, the heat shield around the vehicle was dumped at 60,000 feet (18 km) and the parachute was parachuted. The capsule is meant to be captured in the air by a passing plane pulling an air claw that would then board it on a ship, or it could land on the sea. The saltpick at the base will dissolve after two days, allowing the capsule to sink if not taken by the United States Navy. After Reuters reported the crash landing and the rediscovery of vehicles by Venezuelan farmers in mid-1964, the capsules were no longer labeled "Secret" but offered gifts in eight languages ​​for their return to the United States. Starting with flight number 69, a two-capsule system is used. It also allows satellites to enter passive mode (or "zombie"), turning off for 21 days before taking another picture. Beginning in 1963, another improvement was the "Lifeboat", a battery-powered system that allows for capsule removal and recovery if power fails. The film is processed at the Hawkeye Eastman Kodak facility in Rochester, New York.
The Corona bucket film was later adapted for the KH-7 GAMBIT satellite, which took high-resolution photos.
Launch
Coronas was launched by the Thor-Agena rocket, which uses the first stage of Thor and the Agena amplifier (which serves as the second stage of the rocket that lifts Corona into orbit).
The first launch attempted in the program took place on 21 January 1959 at Vandenberg AFB's LC-75. When Agena is being filled with fuel (Thor is still empty at this point), someone decides to do a computer sequencer launch test. The result is that Agena inadvertently receives a signal that the staging has taken place and initiated the separation of the booster. As everyone in the blockade watched in dismay, the ullage rocket outside Agena began to glow and the internal fuel pump began to spin to start the engine. A quick-thinking member of the blockhouse crew then presses a button on his control console to send a shutdown signal to the booster. Although the potential for disaster has been avoided, Agena now has nothing but gravity that holds it to Thor and risks the stage falling to the ground, bursting, and spilling the existing nitric acid/UDMH propellant charge. In addition, the heat from the ullage rocket has the potential to trigger propellant on the stage. The crew had to wait several hours to get the batteries in Agena out before they could start unpacking the launch vehicle. Thor suffered minor damage and was sent back to Douglas for repair, but Agena had spilled nitric acid on the outside and was considered unsafe to fly. In any case, it was one of the first Agena-generated stages and lacked some technical improvements made to newer models. It was eventually used at Lockheed for training purposes.
This incident led to endless frustration following the Corona program with one failed rollout one after the other. After the launch vehicle was repaired, Inventor 1 was lifted on February 28, 1959. Thor performed correctly and the performances followed by Agena's ignition took place on schedule. However, Agena soon passes the radar's reach and the ground controller loses contact with her (in the early stages of the program, there is no reliable way to track remote launch vehicles in the Southern Hemisphere). While Discoverer 1 was initially assumed to have reached orbit, no signal was detected. It is generally believed that Agena or satellite or both have unknown damage after passing the tracking range and that Inventor 1 is likely to be affected in the South Pacific or Antarctica.
Shortly after the launch of Discoverer 1, an East German radio station attacked the United States for "launching military satellites without prior warning to any country whose territory might be skipped", when in fact only test charges without surveillance capabilities have yet to fully fit in. into orbit. Although conventional wisdom in the West today tends to be that the whole communist world only carries out orders from Moscow, the Soviets made no comment about the Inventors 1 themselves and it would be difficult for them to credibly do so as there were ten previous Soviet space launches, most of which passed through US territory.
Discoverer 2 (April 14, 1959) brings the first recovery capsule and is also the first satellite to be placed into polar orbit. The main bus performs well, but the capsule recovery fails. Apparently it came near Svalbard, Norway, but never found. Rumors continue that the Soviets are restoring the capsule itself, but there is no evidence of this and in any case, there will be little information they can get from small test charges. In this early phase, program planners are not even sure whether Thor/Agena has enough lift capacity to orbit the camera package. Most likely the Discoverer 2 capsule sank into the ocean.
Inventor 3 is scheduled for launch on June 1st. The satellite carries a biological charge with four black rats, the only one to be flown in the Corona program. Early attempts at miscarriage when rats poisoned themselves by biting Krylon paint inside the capsule, but a replacement batch was launched two days later. They never made it to orbit; Agena suffers from malfunction and sends mice and spacecraft to the Pacific Ocean.
Discoverer 4 (June 25) failed to orbit when the Agena engine was performing poorly and the capsule could not reach the orbital speed.
Discoverer 5 (August 13) accidentally sent his capsule to a higher orbit where it remained until November 1961.
Discoverer 6 (August 19) suffered a retrorocket failure that prevented deorbit from capsule.
Discoverer 7 (Nov. 7) has impaired behavior control in orbit, again preventing capsule recovery.
Discoverer 8 (November 20) was put into the wrong orbit by the launch vehicle, again preventing capsule recovery.
Discoverer 9 (February 4, 1960) ended up in the Pacific Ocean when Thor broke up too early.
Discoverer 10 (February 19) failed when Thor suffered a damage control and was destroyed by Range Safety just under a minute before launch.
Discoverer 11 (April 15) suffered from other behavioral control disorders in orbit.
Inventor 12 (June 29) failed to orbit due to attitude control issues with Agena.
Discoverer 13 (Aug. 10) successfully successful capsule recovery for the first time. This is also the first restoration of man-made objects from outer space ; defeated Soviet Korabl Sputnik 2 with nine days. The inventor of XIII is now on display in the "Milestone Flight" hall at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC
Discoverer 14 (August 18) brings the camera package for the first time. The camera is operated correctly and the capsule was taken from the Pacific Ocean 1-1/2 days after launch.
Inventor 15 (13 September) managed to successfully deplete his capsule, but sank into the Pacific Ocean and was not found.
In 1963, the KH-4 system was introduced with dual cameras and the program is now very secretive. The Discoverer label is dropped and all launches are classified. Due to increasing satellite masses, the Thor-Agena base vehicle is enhanced by the addition of three solid-fueled rope-binding strap wheels. On February 28, 1963, the first Thrust Augmented Thor was lifted from the VAFB's LC-75 carrying the first KH-4 satellite. The launch of the new and unproven booster has gone awry because one SRB failed to start. Finally the dead weight of the binding motor drags Thor from its flight path, causing damage to the Range Safety. Allegedly a technician does not install umbilical on SRB correctly. Although some failures continue to occur over the next few years, the reliability of the program increases significantly with KH-4. Maneuver rockets were also added to satellites starting in 1963. This was in contrast to the attitude stabilization drivers that had been included from the start of the program. Corona orbits in very low orbit to improve the resolution of its camera system. But at the perigee (the lowest point in orbit), Corona withstands the resistance of Earth's atmosphere. Later, this can cause its orbit to decay and force the satellite back into the atmosphere prematurely. The new maneuver rockets are designed to increase the Corona into higher orbits, and extend the mission time even if low-level migrants are used. To be used during an unexpected crisis, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) retains the Corona status in "R-7", which means it is ready to launch in seven days. In the summer of 1965, the NRO was able to keep Corona for launch in one day.
Corona procurement and maintenance is managed by the Central Intelligence Agency, which uses a closing arrangement that lasted from April 1958 to 1969 to gain access to the Palo Alto plant from Hiller Helicopter Corporation for production. At this facility, Agena's second stage rocket, camera, movie cassette, and re-entry capsule are assembled and tested before being shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base. In 1969, the assembly assignment was transferred to the Lockheed facility in Sunnyvale, California. (NRO is worried, because Corona has been removed, skilled technicians worry about their work will quit the program - leaving Corona without staff.) The move to Sunnyvale ensures that sufficiently skilled staff will be available.)
Decisions about what to photograph are made by the Corona Target Program. Corona satellites are placed into orbit near the poles. The software, run by an on-board computer, is programmed to operate the camera based on the intelligence targets to be imaged, weather, satellite operational status, and what images have been taken by the camera. Ground control for Corona satellites was originally performed from Stanford Industrial Park, an industrial park on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, California. He was later transferred to the Sunnyvale Air Force Base near Sunnyvale, California.
Corona launched with system type
Corona satellites are set KH-1 , KH-2 , KH-3 , KH-4 , KH-4A and KH-4B . KH stands for "Keyhole" or "Keyhole" (Code number 1010), with a name that becomes an analogy with the act of spying on someone's room by peering through their keyhole. Increasing numbers indicate changes in surveillance instrumentation, such as changes from a single panoramic camera to multiple panoramic. The naming system "KH" was first used in 1962 with KH-4 and previous numbers were retroactively applied. There are 144 Corona satellites launched, of which 102 reusable photographs can be used.
Below is a list of Corona launches, compiled by the United States Geological Survey. This table lists government assignments of each type of satellite (C, C-prime, J-1, etc.), Camera resolution, and camera system descriptions.
* (The quotation marks "quote" is the original designation of the first three generations of cameras.)
Inventor
The first dozen or more Corona satellites and their launches were enveloped with disinformation as part of a space technology development program called the Discoverer program. The first test launched for Corona/Discoverer was done in early 1959. The Inventor 2 capsule may have been discovered by the Soviets, having landed on Spitsbergen Island. The launch of the first Corona containing the camera was done in June 1959 under the name Discoverer 4 . It is a 750-kilogram satellite launched by the Thor-Agena rocket.
The re capsule of Discoverer 13 mission, launched August 10, 1960, was restored the following day. This is the first time anything has been successfully restored from orbit. After the Discoverer 14 mission, launched on August 18, 1960, the basket of the film was taken two days later by the C-119 Flying Boxcar. This is the first photographic film to make it back from orbit. In comparison, Sputnik 5 was launched into orbit on August 19, 1960, one day after the launch of Discoverer 14. Sputnik 5 is a biosatellite that carries into the orbit of two Soviet spaceships, Belka and Strelka, and then safely returns it to Earth.
At least two launches Inventors were used to test satellites for Missile Defense Alarm Systems (MIDAS), a program of early missile launch detection using infrared cameras to detect hot signs from rocket launch into orbit.
The final launch with the Discoverer cover name was Discoverer 38 on February 26, 1962. The bucket was found in the air during the 65th orbit (recovery of the 13th bucket, the ninth in the air). Following the last use of the Discoverer name, the remaining satellites of the Corona are fully confidential. The last Corona launch was made on May 25, 1972. The project ended when Corona was replaced by the Hexagon KH-9 program. The best sequence of Corona missions was from 1966 to 1971, when there were 32 successive missions, including film recovery.
An alternative program for the Corona program is named SAMOS . This program includes several types of satellites that use different methods of photography. It involves shooting in photographic films, developing movies on satellite boards and then scanning images electronically. The image is then transmitted via telemetry to the earth station. The Samos E-1 and E-2 satellite programs use this system, but they can not take many pictures and then forward them to the ground station every day. Two newer versions of the Samos program, such as E-5 and E-6, use a bucket return approach, but none of these programs run a successful mission.
subsite ELINT
Nine of the KH-4A and KH-4B missions include the ELINT subsatellite, which is launched into a higher orbit.
Declasification
The Coron program officially classified the secrets until 1992. Then, on February 22, 1995, photos were taken by the Corona satellite , and also by two contemporary programs ( Argon and KH-6 Lanyard ) were declassified under an Executive Order signed by President Bill Clinton. Further reviews by the photographer of the "outdated wide-back movie system other than Corona " mandated by President Clinton's order caused declassification in 2002 from photographs of KH-7 and KH. -9 low resolution camera.
The declassified image has since been used by a team of scientists from the Australian National University to search and explore ancient dwellings, pottery factories, megalithic tombs, and remnants of Palaeolitic archeology in northern Syria. Similarly, scientists at Harvard have used imagery to identify prehistoric travel routes in Mesopotamia.
CORONA's Digital Atlas of the Middle East Project has a large number of KH-4B imagery in which users can view and download spatially-corrected images.
Launch
Photo gallery
See also
- KH-5-ARGON, KH-6-LANYARD, KH-7, KH-8-GAMBIT
- SAMOS
- KH-9 Hexagon "Big Bird"
- KH-10-DORIAN or Maned Orbital Laboratory
- KH-11, KH-12, KH-13.
- Satellite imagery
- Cold War
- Zenit
- Richard M. Bissell, Jr.
Popular culture
The 1963 thriller 1963 The Zebra Ice Station and the 1968 film adaptation were inspired, in part, by a news account from April 17, 1959, of the missing experimental Corona satellite capsule (Inventor II) that accidentally landed near Spitzbergen on April 13th. While Soviet agents may have recovered the vehicle, it is likely that the capsule landed in water and drowned. The Corona program is also mentioned in the Video-game Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
References
Bibliography
- Burrows, William E. The New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age. New York: Random House, 1998.
- Chun, Clayton K.S. Thunder Over the Horizon: From V-2 rocket to Ballistic Missile. Westport: Praeger Security International, 2006.
- Collins, Martin. After Sputnik: 50 Years of Space Age. New York: Smithsonian Books/HarperCollins, 2007.
- "Corona." Library of Mission and Spacecraft. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Aviation and Space Agency. No date. Retrieved 2012-60-06.
- Day, Dwayen A.; Logsdon, John M.; and Latell, Brian, eds. Eye in the Sky: The story of Spy Corona Satellites. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. ISBNÃ, 978-1560988304
- "Inventor/Corona: First US Reconnaissance Satellite, National Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, 2002. Accessed 2012-06-06.
- Drell, Sidney D. "U.S. Physics and National Security" Reviews of Modern Physics. 71: 2 (1999), p. S460-S470.
- Drell, Sidney D. "Keepsakes Work on National Reconnaissance." on Nuclear Weapons, Scientists, and the Post-Cold War Challenge: Selected Papers on Arms Control. Sidney D. Drell, ed. Hackensack, N.J.: World Scientific, 2007.
- Jensen, John R. Remote Sensing Environment: Earth Resource Perspective. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.
- Kramer, Herbert J. Earth Observations and Its Environment: Mission and Sensor Surveys. Berlin: Springer, 2002.
- Lewis, Jonathan E. Spy Capitalism: Itek and the CIA. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002.
- Monmonier, Mark S. Spying Map: Technology Supervision and Privacy's Future. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
- National Aviation and Space Agency. The Impact of Social Spaceflight. Washington, D.C.: NASA, 2009.
- Olsen, Richard C. Remote Sensing From the Air and Space. Bellingham, Wash.: SPIE Press, 2007.
- Peebles, Curtis. Korona Project: The First Spy Satellite in America. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1997.
- Ruffner, Kevin C., ed. Corona: America's First Satellite Program. New York: Morgan James, 1995.
- Smith, F. Dow. "Corona Optical Design and Engineering." at CORONA: Between the Sun & amp; Earth: The First NRO Spying Eye in Space. Robert McDonald, ed. Bethesda, Md.: ASPRS, 1997.
- Taubman, Phil. Secret Empire: Eisenhower, CIA, and Hidden Acts of American Space Spying. New York: Simon & amp; Schuster, 2003. ISBNÃ, 0-684-85699-9
- Yenne, Bill. Secret Gadgets and Weird Gizmos: High Technology (and Technology Low) Innovations from the U.S. Military Grand Rapids, Mich.: Worldwide Publisher Group, 2006.
External links
- Satellite Image of US Geological Survey: Photographic images from CORONA, ARGON, and LANYARD satellites (1959 to 1972).
- Corona page in NRO
- GlobalSecurity.org: Image Intelligence
- Short movie Time Point: The Corona Story is available for free download on the Internet Archive
- The sword becomes plowshares: The CORONA Satellite Imagery App in the Near East
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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