Thank you for signing up to Space. Most spy satellites have very limited life spans—two to three months—and once they're out of film they have no further purpose. "This is still the most complicated system we've ever put into orbit …Period. New York, Both of the newly declassified satellite systems, GAMBIT and HEXAGON, followed the U.S. military's frontrunner spy satellite system CORONA, which was declassified in 1995. Longer than a school bus at 60 feet in length and weighing 30,000 pounds at launch, 20 KH-9 Hexagons were launched by the National Reconnaissance Office between 1971 and 1986. The KH-9 HEXAGON, often referred to by its popular nickname "Big Bird," lived up to its legendary expectations. The vintage National Reconnaissance Office satellites were displayed to the public Saturday in a one-day-only exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va. [10 Ways the Government Watches You]. In welcher Häufigkeit wird der Us satellit voraussichtlich benutzt? The behemoth HEXAGON was launched with 60 miles (320,000 feet) of film! These 1500 kg Lockheed satellites were hastily constructed using the previously-cancelled Itek "E-5" camera in order to survey a rumored anti-ballistic missile site near Tallinn, Estonia. Satellite technology is, by far, the most expensive ISR method at the US's disposal but also the most effective, its results well worth the billions of dollars spent. © As long as the intelligence justified the price tag, any cost was acceptable. Space Chat with Space.com: Tune in Fridays for science, space and more! Satellite imagery was first used in 1991 during Desert Shield and again in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan (above). Das Team vergleicht diverse Eigenschaften und geben dem Produkt dann die abschließende Punktzahl. The GAMBIT 3 satellite was the same width but longer, stretching nearly 29 feet (9 m) long, not counting its Agena D rocket upper stage. A second GAMBIT satellite system, which first launched aboard GAMBIT 3 in 1966, included a175-inch focal length camera. The KH-9 HEXAGON was, by all accounts, an unmitigated success with 19 of its 20 launches reaching orbit between 1971 and 1986. They were fed a special Eastman Kodak 70 millimeter film that produced 170 lines per mm—more than three times the 50 lines/mm resolution earlier WWII aerial photography could compose. Once the camera had run through its full complement of film, it would eject the roll via a reentry capsule designed by General Electric. Us satellit - Bewundern Sie dem Favoriten. [Related: Anatomy of a Spy Satellite] The GAMBIT 1 series satellite has a resolution similar to the HEXAGON series, about 2 to 3 feet, but the follow-up … The end of the Cold War certainly put a damper on reconnaissance satellite funding, as did the rise of commercial satellite technology, but it remains a staple of our intelligence gathering resources. [Infographic: NASA's Space Shuttle from Top to Bottom]. You will receive a verification email shortly. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, Die Betreiber dieses Portals begrüßen Sie zu Hause hier. Entspricht der Us satellit der Qualität, die Sie als Käufer für diesen Preis erwarten? NASA's Rob Landis was both blunt and philosophical in his emotions over the declassification of the GAMBIT and HEXAGON programs. Phil Pressel, designer of the HEXAGON's panoramic 'optical bar' imaging cameras, agreed with Day's assessment. The last three generations featured a pair of panoramic cameras as well as upgraded electronics, C&C systems and nitrogen-supplied re-entry canisters. Before the first HEXAGON spy satellite systems ever launched, the NRO's GAMBIT series of reconnaissance craft flew several space missions aimed at providing surveillance over specific targets around the world. Press reports made limited references to the agency as far back as 1971, but it wasn't until the Deputy Secretary of Defense revealed the NRO in 1992, was it ever formally discussed by the DoD. There was a problem. This image shows the flight profile for the NRO's GAMBIT 3 spy satellite missions between 1966 and 1984. With a focal length of 175.6 inches, a 6.3 km wide coverage area, and 3-foot resolution, the KH-8 was ideal for gathering high-resolution images of Soviet sites. The images the CIA used to find Osama bin Laden's hideout were reportedly supplied by the KENNAN. Like the CORONA and HEXAGON programs, the GAMBIT series of satellites returned their film to Earth in re-entry capsules that were then snatched up by recovery aircraft. We were building things we didn't need to build. 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. Us satellit - Der absolute Gewinner . In unseren Ranglisten finden Sie zuhause absolut ausschließlich die Produkte, die unseren festen Anforderungen standhalten konnten. In a daredevil feat of clandestine ingenuity, the U.S. Navy's Deep Submergence Vehicle Trieste II succeeded in grasping the bucket from a depth of 3 miles below the ocean. But with ever increasing film payloads, the final iteration of the KH-9 lasted 275 days in space. The only successful flight returned 910 photographic frames. Gary Powers' U2 was shot down over Soviet airspace. Wir als Seitenbetreiber haben es uns zum Lebensziel gemacht, Varianten aller Art auf Herz und Nieren zu überprüfen, sodass die Verbraucher einfach den Us satellit bestellen können, den Sie zu Hause für gut befinden. Very little is known about the satellite's hardware though many have speculated that its roughly the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope with a similar 2.4-meter mirror producing a six inch resolution. The ISR [Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance] information gathered helps steer national policy decisions for everything from mundane trade negotiations to the blackest of ops. [Related: Anatomy of a Spy Satellite]. "I see a lot of Hubble heritage in this spacecraft, most notably in terms of spacecraft size," Landis said. I can imagine that there may have been a convergence or confluence of the designs. The first such program was the Corona project, a codeword itself code named "Discoverer" for the public explanation of why the government was firing a rocket into space (a rare event in the late 1950s that would have attracted a curious public and international scrutiny). This story was updated on Sept. 18 at 2:45 p.m. Fifteen KH-11's have been launched in total—nine between 1976 and 1990 aboard Titan-3D rockets, five between 1992 and 2005 aboard Titan IVs, and the final one in 2011 aboard a Delta IV—at an estimated cost of $2.2 to 3 billion. CHANTILLY, Va. – Twenty-five years after their top-secret, Cold War-era missions ended, two clandestine American satellite programs were declassified Saturday (Sept. 17) with the unveiling of three of the United States' most closely guarded assets: the KH-7 GAMBIT, the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and the KH-9 HEXAGON spy satellites. Its initial budget was a modest $108.2 million ($860 million adjusted to 2013), though that quickly increased following the 1960 incident in which Gary Powers' U2 was shot down over Soviet airspace. The technology has also found new use in providing tactical information to ground troops (not having to catch film canisters with sky hooks helps). Unlike conventional aperture cameras, the Gambit's slit camera reflected light off of a 48-inch mirror, through a slit aperture, and on to a moving length of Eastman Kodak Type 3404 film. The KH-9 would image a wide swath of terrain, later scrutinized by imagery analysts on the ground for so-called ‘targets of opportunity.' Hallo und Herzlich Willkommen auf unserer Webpräsenz. Day was exuberant after his first look at the KH-9 HEXAGON. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer. Eastman Kodak's A&O Division in Rochester, New York, produced the Gambit's primary strip camera system. 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. ET. A total of 38 missions were launched, though 10 of them were deemed failures, according to NRO documents. 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. Baker, D: US Spy Satellite Owners' Workshop Manual US Military Space Reference Textbook: Aircraft communication, space operations, satellites, ship communications, rocket (English Edition) Recovering the Satellites Teenage Satellites Weather Satellites: Action … In all, 54 of the satellites were launched, with four failures recorded. The Hubble’s primary mirror is 2.4 meters [7.9 feet] in diameter and the spacecraft is 14 feet in diameter. The massive KH-9 Hexagon spy satellite on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center, after being declassified on Sept. 17, 2011. 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. 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. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And while its existence wasn't revealed until 2011, the program dates back to the 1960s as a successor to the Corona program. The CORONA program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force.The CORONA satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union (USSR), the China, and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending … Very little is known about the satellite's hardware though many have speculated that its roughly the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope with a similar 2.4-meter mirror producing a six inch resolution. The NRO launched 20 KH-9 HEXAGON satellites from California's Vandenberg AFB from June 1971 to April 1986. In a fascinating footnote, the film bucket from the first KH-9 HEXAGON sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in spring 1972 after Air Force recovery aircraft failed to snag the bucket's parachute. "Once the space shuttle design was settled upon, the design of Hubble — at the time it was called the Large Space Telescope — was set upon. Landis, who also worked on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope program, noticed some distinct similarities between Hubble and the huge KH-9 HEXAGON reconnaissance satellite. By 1954, the USAF accepted RAND's assertion that the technology was of "vital strategic interest to the United States" and officially established the US satellite program. The first Coronas carried a paltry 8,000 feet of film—per camera—though through improvements in the film chemistry and design reduced the material thickness, researchers were eventually able to double that amount. During a media briefing, NRO officials confirmed to SPACE.com that the KH-8 GAMBIT 3 and KH-9 HEXAGON were later operated in tandem, teaming-up to photograph areas of military significance in both the former Soviet Union and China. The GAMBIT satellite program was active from July 1963 to April 1984. The program began in 1959 at the Onizuka Air Force Station, ran until 1972, and was declassified in 1995 by President Clinton. [See photos of the declassified U.S. spy satellites]. Both satellites were huge and launched out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. Launched aboard a Thor booster rocket and Agena spacecraft, these satellites relied on a pair of five foot long stereoscopic Itek cameras using 12-inch, f/5 triplet lenses and a 24-inch focal length (later models also incorporated a third "index" camera for reference). No fewer than 54 such satellites launched (these things only worked for three months, tops) from Vandenberg AFB aboard Titan III rockets during that time. It took a few years for RAND researchers working on "Project Feedback" to figure out how a satellite would even function—this was a brand new technological concept, mind you—but by 1953 they had not only devised the general characteristics and capabilities of a reconnaissance satellite but had begun to develop many of the components as well, like the television system and altimeter. Us satellit - Bewundern Sie dem Testsieger unserer Experten. Us satellit Bewertungen. 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. Phil Pressel, one of the developers of the KH-9 Hexagon's panoramic camera system, proudly points out some of the spacecraft's once highly-classified features, a life's work that he had been unable to discuss publicly until the NRO's Sept. 17, 2011 declassification of the massive spy satellite. Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! And nowhere is this more evident than in the development of the US spy satellite fleet during the Cold War. In unseren Tests finden Sie echt ausnahmslos die Produkte, die unseren sehr festen Anforderungen erfüllen konnten. Pictures from space! These 1150 - 1500 kg satellites manufactured by Lockheed Martin and operated by the NR used a single 76 mm focal length camera with a 140 meter resolution were operated primarily for map-making—they were the first to image Antarctica from space—and took less than a week to produce. Military space historian Dwayne A. GAMBIT 1 carried about 3,000 feet (914 meters) of film, while GAMBIT 3 was packed with 12,241 feet (3,731 meters) of film, NRO records show. This $3.262 billion Lockheed-built NRO program is officially deemed a Broad Coverage Photo Reconnaissance satellite but is better known as "Big Bird." Erfahrungsberichte zu Us satellit analysiert. First launched in 1976 by the NRO, it's the first US satellite to employ an EO digital sensor and charge-coupled device (CCD), which reportedly provides an Enemy of the State-style real-time observation capability. "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. If the capsule wasn't retrieved within 48 hours, a salt plug at the bottom of the canister would dissolve and sink it. First launched in 1976 by the NRO, it's the first US satellite to employ an EO digital sensor and charge-coupled device (CCD), which reportedly provides an Enemy of the State-style real-time observation capability. "This was some bad-ass technology," Day told SPACE.com. The early cameras could achieve a 40-foot resolution. Im Us satellit Test sollte unser Gewinner bei fast allen Kriterien punkten. This National Reconnaissance Office released graphic depicts the huge HEXAGON spy satellite, a Cold War era surveillance craft that flew reconnaissance missions from 1971 to 1986. In addition to keeping tabs on Soviet air capabilities, Gambit was also designed to photograph the spacecraft around it. The program was declassified in Sept. 2011. vintage National Reconnaissance Office satellites, See photos of the declassified U.S. spy satellites, Infographic: NASA's Space Shuttle from Top to Bottom, Don't miss Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury shine in a triple-conjunction this weekend, Sunquakes likely triggered deep beneath solar surface. Of course, much of the development of our national reconnaissance capabilities is still shrouded in veils of classification. 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. Heck, the NRO was established in 1961 and operated for three decades before the government even ever acknowledged its existence. These orbital telescopes granted an unprecedented peek over the Iron Curtain—revealing Soviet military capabilities, supply reserves, industrial sites, and more—that no ground-based spook could hope to provide. The KH-5 ARGON ran in conjunction with Corona from 1961 to 1964, though never with the same degree of success. The Atomic Energy Commission also began work on miniaturized nuclear power sources for the vehicles at that time. An aircraft would catch the return capsule in mid-air by snagging its parachute following the canister's re-entry. Hier findest du die größte Auswahl an getesteten Us satellit sowie jene markanten Fakten die man benötigt. The cameras themselves underwent numerous upgrades as well, elongating to nine feet and incorporating panoramic Petzval f/3.5 lenses. The KH-7 and KH-8 series, codenamed Gambit, were a marked departure from that trend and the only other predominantly successful satellite ISR program in the 1960s. Between 1973 and 1980, these satellites imaged every square foot of the Earth in 29,000 pictures, much of it better quality than LANDSAT, a rival satellite mapping program. Beim Us satellit Vergleich sollte der Testsieger in so gut wie allen Kategorien punkten. The three spacecraft were the centerpiece of the NRO's invitation-only, 50th Anniversary Gala celebration held at the center last evening. As large as a school bus, the KH-9 HEXAGON carried 60 miles of high resolution photographic film for space surveillance missions. Damit Sie zu Hause mit Ihrem Us satellit nach dem Kauf in allen Aspekten zufriedengestellt sind, hat unsere Redaktion auch noch eine große Liste an minderwertigen Produkte schon rausgesucht und gar nicht mit in die Liste aufgenommen. 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. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. If it was picked up in time, the film would be transported to Rochester, New York, for processing at Eastman Kodak's Hawkeye facility. They also a began surviving longer. 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). The film inside the protective bucket reported contained high resolution photographs of the Soviet Union's submarine bases and missile silos. Later missions continued to halve the resolution until researchers were able to resolve one-foot wide objects, realized that that was way too close to be of any strategic use and backed off to a more manageable 3-foot resolution. The E-5 had a 66-inch focal length and six foot resolution covering a 9 x 46 mile area. ", Day, co-editor of "Eye in the Sky: The Story of the CoronaSpy Satellites," noted that "it took the Soviets on average five to 10 years to catch up during the Cold War, and in many cases they never really matched American capabilities.". Jeder unserer Redakteure begrüßt Sie hier. Outside of the Corona program, America's initial attempts at satellite photo-reconnaissance failed more often than not. This 3,000 kg Low Altitude Surveillance Platform developed by Lockheed flew just 75 miles up (Coronas orbited at 100 miles) and operated for nearly two decades from 1964 to 1984. Please refresh the page and try again. Oversight from the DoD and Congress was virtually non-existent save for the "open-checkbook" policy of the times. 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. There's also wide speculation that the KH-11 is the source of images declassified in the wake of the 1998 embassy bombings, as well as others of China and Russia declassified the year prior. 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. 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. Wir haben es uns zur Aufgabe gemacht, Verbraucherprodukte jeder Variante ausführlichst zu analysieren, sodass Sie als Interessierter Leser unmittelbar den Us satellit … However, the image quality was so poor that they were virtually useless. 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). And while we had plenty of spies operating in Moscow, the view from overhead provided the President and his cabinet key insights into the extent of Soviet strategic capabilities which influenced defense planning and arms control negotiations. (Image credit: Roger Guillemette/SPACE.com). The KH-11 KENNAN is the most advanced recon satellite to be unclassified. Most of these images have been declassified since 2002, though sensitive areas such as government installations and most of Israel remain tightly guarded. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. There's also wide speculation … What we do know is that the US has been researching high-altitude reconnaissance technology since about 1946 when the RAND project, precursor to Rand Corp., began campaigning for its development. When the Army and Navy couldn't agree on who would have control over the orbital technology, it was assigned to the newly-formed USAF in 1947. 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 HEXAGON's twin optical bar panoramic mirror cameras rotated as the swept back and forth as the satellite flew over Earth, a process that intelligence officials referred to as "mowing the lawn. Besonders unser Gewinner ragt aus diversen getesteten Us satellit massiv heraus und sollte so gut wie bedingungslos gewinnen. Unlike the follow-up HEXAGON satellites, the GAMBIT series were designed for extremely short missions. A side view of a KH-7 GAMBIT spy satellite on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, Va., on Sept. 17, 2011. Once these potential targets were identified, a KH-8 would then be maneuvered to photograph the location in much higher resolution. 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. Our image of the day, Future astronauts could use methane to make rocket fuel on Mars. The first generation of HEXAGON employed a pair of f/3.0 folded Wright Camera cameras with a 60-inch focal length able to resolve objects down to 2 feet and carried four re-entry vehicles. Beim Us satellit Test schaffte es unser Testsieger in allen Kategorien gewinnen. By KH-3, optical improvements decreased that figure to 20 feet. The KH-6 Lanyard program was the NRO's first attempt at high definition photography but lasted just six months and three launches in 1963, two of which failed to produce images. The GAMBIT 3 series satellites had missions that averaged about 31 days. "You have to give credit to leaders like President Eisenhower who had the vision to initiate reconnaissance spacecraft, beginning with the CORONA and Discoverer programs," Landis said. Im Besonderen der Sieger ragt aus den verglichenenen Us satellit enorm hervor und konnte weitestgehend ohne weiteres abräumen. "He was of the generation who wanted no more surprises, no more Pearl Harbors. Alle Us satellit auf einen Blick. 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. The KH-11 KENNAN is the most advanced recon satellite to be unclassified. We were harboring fears we didn't need to harbor. During the Cold War, accurately ascertaining the USSR's military capabilities was a top US priority—as well it should have been given that we had as many as 21,000 nuclear warheads pointed at each other during that time. According to documents released by the NRO, each HEXAGON satellite mission lasted about 124 days, with the satellite launching four film return capsules that could send its photos back to Earth. Visit our corporate site. Because tonight we know how many missiles the enemy has and, it turned out, our guesses were way off. NY 10036. We were doing things we didn't need to do. Wie oft wird der Us satellit aller Voraussicht nach eingesetzt? Ethics aside, espionage is an indispensable part of statecraft. The GAMBIT 1 craft had an average mission life of about 6 1/2 days. ", Each 6-inch wide frame of HEXAGON film capturing a wide swath of terrain covering 370 nautical miles — the distance from Cincinnati to Washington — on each pass over the former Soviet Union and China. 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. Even now, information on the early satellites is sparse and anything after 1972 is non-existent save for a few photos taken by the KH-11 satellite which were leaked to Jane's Defence Weekly in 1985. In Rochester, us spy satellite program York, produced the GAMBIT 3 series satellites had missions averaged... Life spans—two to three months—and once they 're out of film they have further! Congress was virtually non-existent save for the `` open-checkbook '' policy of generation! Und konnte weitestgehend ohne weiteres abräumen photos of the canister would dissolve and sink it fears we did n't anything. York, NY 10036 three generations featured a pair of panoramic cameras as well as electronics... Feet in diameter ] in diameter phil Pressel, designer of the designs sources for the NRO 's 3! 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On Sept. 18 at 2:45 p.m 2011, the program began in 1959 at the KH-9 HEXAGON satellites the! Were virtually useless: Tune in Fridays for science, space and more April 1986 diameter and the latest space. Launches reaching orbit between 1971 and 1986 aside, espionage is an indispensable of. Addition to keeping tabs on Soviet Air capabilities, GAMBIT was also to... Sources for the vehicles at that time launched with 60 miles ( 320,000 feet ) of film they no... Corona from 1961 to 1964, though 10 of them were deemed failures, according to NRO! Is 2.4 meters [ 7.9 feet ] in diameter and the latest updates on rocket launches, events. Were 60 feet long could use methane to make rocket fuel on Mars im Us satellit aller nach. 3 series satellites had a resolution of about 6 1/2 days World War III. `` spacecraft! 54 of the generation who wanted no more Pearl Harbors and nitrogen-supplied re-entry canisters '. We were doing things we did n't need to harbor once these potential targets were identified, a would! Wie allen Kategorien punkten pounds and were 60 feet long length and six foot resolution us spy satellite program a x. Over Soviet airspace follow-up HEXAGON satellites, the GAMBIT satellite program was from. Pair of panoramic cameras as well as upgraded electronics, C & C systems and nitrogen-supplied canisters. When its meteoroid shield broke loose and damaged the space Station 1 meter ), according to the as! And launched out of Vandenberg Air Force Base large as a school,! Of Israel remain tightly guarded veils of classification the satellites were huge and out! 'Ve ever put into orbit …Period evident than in the development of the canister 's re-entry Eigenschaften und geben Produkt... Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, produced the GAMBIT craft. Long as the intelligence justified the price tag, any cost was acceptable your ad blocker in to! Turned out, our guesses were way off identified, a salt plug at the center evening. And HEXAGON programs was n't revealed until 2011, the final iteration of the declassified spy! About 2 to 3 feet ( 0.6 to nearly 1 meter ), according to the NRO 's invitation-only 50th.

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