A Stealth Satellite Sourcebook
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'm A Stealth Satellite Sourcebook Version of 2016-03-08 Additional material for this sourcebook would be appreciated. Please send it to Allen Thomson, [email protected] The ordering of entries in this sourcebook is intended to be roughly chronological. Preference is given to the dates of the events reported in the entries when they can be determined, not necessarily to the dates on which the entries were written or published. In the case of patents, the date used is that of the original filing, not the date on which the patent was granted. Technical note and acknowledgment: This document is maintained and produced using Libre Office Writer. http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=0339967&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/surv1966.pdf http://www.nro.gov/PressReleases/prs_rel40.html NRO HONORS PIONEERS OF NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE August 18, 2000 Forty years ago today, the world received its first pictures from space when a CORONA satellite capsule carrying film was caught in midair by an Air Force C-119 aircraft. With this recovery, space photo reconnaissance became a reality. In honor of this anniversary, the National Reconnaissance Office is proud to announce the selection of 46 Pioneers who made significant and lasting contributions to the discipline of national reconnaissance. Also acknowledged are10 Founders of national reconnaissance, scientists who contributed to the founding of this space discipline. Ceremonies to recognize the Pioneers and the Founders are scheduled for Sept. 27 at the NRO's headquarters in Chantilly, Va. [deletia] The Founders of National Reconnaissance are: [deletia] Edward M. Purcell, Ph.D. (posthumous) Harvard Nobel Laureate and radar expert, Dr. Edward Purcell worked on all early overhead reconnaissance projects that operated at extreme altitudes. His main contribution involved methods to make these vehicles, if not invisible to radar, hard to observe with radar. He also chaired the Land Panel subcommittee that selected the Program B follow-on film recovery reconnaissance system. http://newton.nap.edu/html/biomems/epurcell.html Edward Mills Purcell August 30, 1912 — March7, 1997 By Robert V. Pound EDWARD MILLS PURCELL, NOBEL laureate for physics in 1952, died on March 7, 1997, of respiratory failure at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had tried valiantly to regain his strength after suffering leg fractures in a fall in 1996, but recurring bacterial lung infections requiring extended hospitalizations repeatedly set back his recovery. Two of the best known of Purcell's many outstanding scientific achievements are his 1945 discovery with colleagues Henry C. Torrey and Robert V. Pound of nuclear magnetic resonant absorption (NMR), and in 1951 his successful detection with Harold I. Ewen of the emission of radiation at 1421 MHz by atomic hydrogen in the interstellar medium. Each of these fundamental discoveries has led to an extraordinary range of developments. NMR, for example, initially conceived as a way to reveal properties of atomic nuclei, has become a major tool for research in material sciences, chemistry, and even medicine, where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is now an indispensable tool. Radio spectroscopy of atoms and molecules in space, following from the detection of the hyperfine transition in hydrogen as the first example, has become a major part of the ever-expanding field of radio astronomy. Purcell made ingenious contributions in biophysics, as exemplified by his famous analysis of life at low Reynolds numbers, which described the locomotion of bacteria in water. In astronomy, he made important contributions to the study of the alignment of interstellar grains. As a teacher he had a great influence on many students whom he advised and who sat in his beautifully crafted courses at Harvard. His introductory textbook on electricity and magnetism set a new standard of scholarship. Finally, Purcell was looked to as a most valued advisor and consultant throughout his professional life, having served on innumerable committees, including two periods of service on the President's Science Advisory Committee in the administrations of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. [deletia] Throughout his professional career, Edward Purcell was continuously sought out as a consultant and advisor. He spent time on a variety of studies for agencies of the U.S. government. Following almost immediately from the period at the MIT Radiation Laboratory he served for many years on the Air Force Science Advisory Board at the request of Lee Dubridge. In the fall term of 1950 Ed took a leave of absence from his duties at Harvard to join Project Troy, a secret study based at MIT for the U.S. Department of State. This was also a critical period in the development of the search for the astronomical atomic hydrogen line, and I became more closely involved in its progress in Ed's absence. Through this and later studies he developed a close friendship with Edwin H. Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation and inventor of its instant photography techniques. They both served on the original President's Science Advisory Committee that began under President Eisenhower in response to the Soviet Sputnik revelations. There, Purcell chaired the subcommittee on space and he and Land wrote, with the participation of Frank Bello, formerly of Fortune magazine, a pamphlet sometimes called the "Space Primer" to educate as many people as possible about the possibilities of space exploration. Ed was proud of the degree to which their projections proved correct as the program developed in the following years, including the moon landings, whose possibility they had described. He and his committee colleagues had important influences on the organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the whole developing space exploration program, and the later conduct of the Apollo mission. One such contribution was their persuading NASA to provide the astronauts with specially designed color stereo cameras to make photographs of the undisturbed lunar surface around the landing site on the initial and later missions. Another outgrowth of one of the studies for national defense was the invention of a long-distance communication system (1952) for very short wavelengths, using scattering from turbulence in the troposphere. http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/asat/at_001012.htm From: Allen Thomson ([email protected]) Subject: LES-8/9 : semistealthy? Newsgroups: sci.space.history Date: 2000/10/12 I recently came across the following, which is found on p.30 of "Semi Annual History of the Directorate of Space, Period of 1 January 1971 - 30 June 1971" The paragraph, originally classified SECRET, was declassified on 10 March 1996. According to a correspondent who, to my amazement, knows about such stuff, the DoS was a component of the office of the USAF Deputy Chief of Staff for Development (also known as DCS/D and later DSC/R&D), who was the Air Staff officer in charge of advanced development in the Pentagon. ------------ "The MIT Lincoln Laboratory is involved in a program to demonstrate the technology necessary to deploy a highly survivable satellite communication system for command and control of the SIOP forces. The effort is based upon the use of two satellites (LES-8 and LES-9) carefully designed (both electronically and physically) so that detection of the satellite presence is extremely difficult. The satellites would use satellite-to-satellite communications links and would permit two way communications between aircraft and surface forces on a global basis. The anticipated launch of LES-8/9 is in September 1974." ------------ "So that detection of the satellite presence is extremely difficult" is consistent with a rumor I'd heard earlier, that one of the two LESes was equipped with a plane mirror intended to send the line of sight of a terrestrial observer out into starry space. It also represents the fifth or sixth confirmed or reasonably believable report of low-observable satellite studies, technology development efforts or actual programs stretching from the early 1960's to ca. 1990. [Additional materials relating to LES-8/9 are provided in Appendix D.] http://www.airforcehistoryindex.org/data/001/020/828.xml http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve03/d124 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976 Volume E–3, Documents on Global Issues, 1973–1976, Document 124 124. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to President Ford, Washington, March 15, 1976.11. Source: Ford Library, Kissinger-Scowcroft West Wing Files, Box 22, Satellite Vulnerability (3/15/76). Secret; Sensitive. Ford initialed the document, indicating that he had read it. MEMORANDUM THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON March 15, 1976 MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT FROM: BRENT SCOWCROFT [BS initialed] SUBJECT: Follow-Up on Satellite Vulnerability As you, George Bush and I have discussed, the United States has no anti-satellite capability at the present time and only a minimal R&D program for the development of such a program. We also discussed the fact that current studies are under way in this area. Under NSC auspices, a team of civilian experts is examining the situation. CIA is doing a supporting study in connection with this NSC effort. The NSC study is examining three major areas: (1) Near-term measures (3-5 years) which can be taken to decrease the vulnerability of our satellites; (2) Projection of the military use of space over the next 15 years, including analysis of the problems of satellite survivability; and (3) The most feasible options for development of a U.S. anti-satellite capability. While this is a very extensive study, I anticipate receiving a preliminary report by the end of April, including a description of alternates for reducing satellite vulnerability over the near-term. Completion of the final study is planned for September. 1 Source: Ford Library, Kissinger-Scowcroft West Wing Files, Box 22, Satellite Vulnerability (3/15/76).