From the Sea to the Stars i From the Sea to the Stars: A Chronicle of the U.S. Navy’s Space and Space-related Activities, 1944-2009 Sponsored by Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (C3I and Space) Dr Gary A. Federici Edited by The Applied Research Laboratory The Pennsylvania State University Revised and updated edition, 2010 iii CONTENTS Illustrations ...................................................................................................................................................... xi Preface ............................................................................................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................... xiv Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 – THE NAVY GETS INVOLVED IN SPACE (1944-1961) ................................................................... 7 Early Navy Space Programs (1944-1958) ..................................................................................................... 9 The Space Probes ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Naval Research Laboratory's Space Probes ......................................................................................... 9 Applied Physics Laboratory's Space Probes ....................................................................................... 10 The Rockets ............................................................................................................................................. 11 NRL's Viking Rockets ........................................................................................................................ 11 APL's Aerobee Rockets ...................................................................................................................... 11 Project PAMOR ...................................................................................................................................... 12 Early Navy-Air Force Competition over Space Development ..................................................................... 14 First Satellites in Orbit ................................................................................................................................. 15 The International Geophysical Year: 1957–1958 ................................................................................... 15 Sputnik .................................................................................................................................................. 16 Navy Launches its First Satellite—Vanguard ......................................................................................... 16 The U.S. Organizes Seriously for Space (1958-1961) ................................................................................. 17 "Military" versus "Scientific" Satellites .................................................................................................. 18 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ....................................................................... 18 Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) ......................................................................................... 19 The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) ........................................................................................... 19 The Navy's Space Program Burgeons (1958-1961) ..................................................................................... 21 Communications Moon Relay (CMR) System ......................................................................................... 23 Origin of the Transit Navigation System ................................................................................................. 24 Navy's Pioneering Satellite Communications Relays .............................................................................. 28 Passive Satellite Communications Relay (Echo) ................................................................................ 28 Active Satellite Communications Relay (Score, Courier, and Advent).............................................. 29 Origin of the Navy's Covert Satellite Reconnaissance System (DYNO/GRAB/Tattletale) ...................... 30 Navy Project Tattletale: GRAB/DYNO—The World’s First Reconnaissance Satellite .................... 31 Navy Environmental Sensing Satellites in the 1950s .............................................................................. 33 Navy Spacecraft Tracking Systems ......................................................................................................... 33 APL's TRANET System ..................................................................................................................... 33 NRL's Minitrack System .................................................................................................................... 34 The U.S. Naval Space Surveillance System (NAVSPASUR)—“Space Fence” ................................ 35 CHAPTER 2 – SATELLITES FOR STRATEGIC DEFENSE (1961-1970) ............................................................... 39 A 1961 DoD Decision on Space Catches Navy by Surprise ........................................................................ 39 Satellite Navigation Systems in the 1960s ................................................................................................... 41 The Transit Navigation System Goes Operational .................................................................................. 41 Prototype Transit Satellites ("Oscar" Series) ...................................................................................... 42 Satellite Time Measurement/Passive Ranging ........................................................................................ 43 Navy Timation Program .......................................................................................................................... 43 Air Force 621B Program .................................................................................................................... 44 The Tri-Service Navigation Satellite Executive Group ...................................................................... 44 Navy's Role in Satellite Communications during the 1960s ........................................................................ 45 v vi Contents _________________________________________________________________________________ Navy Organization in the 1960s for Satellite Communications .............................................................. 45 "Spy Ship" Communications (TRSSCOM) .............................................................................................. 46 Navy Plans for Using DSCS Satellites .................................................................................................... 47 The DSCS Satellites ........................................................................................................................... 47 Navy SHF Terminals for DSCS ......................................................................................................... 48 Navy Communications Experiments with Commercial Satellites ............................................................ 49 Satellite Communications Experiment Ships ..................................................................................... 49 The NRL Satellite Communications Terminal at Waldorf, Maryland ............................................... 49 Compass Link ..................................................................................................................................... 50 Commercial Communications Satellites ............................................................................................ 50 The Tactical Satellite Communications (TacSat-1) Experiments ............................................................ 51 Lofti Research ......................................................................................................................................... 53 Navy's Satellite Reconnaissance System during the 1960s .......................................................................... 54 Navy's Early Space-based Radar Programs ................................................................................................. 55 Albatross ................................................................................................................................................. 56 Navy Radar for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) Program ....................................................... 56 Dissemination of Space-derived Surveillance Information to the Fleet in the 1960s .................................. 57 Navy Exploitation of Weather Satellites in the 1960s ................................................................................. 57 TIROS, NOAA, and GOES ...................................................................................................................... 57 Defense Meteorological Support Program (DMSP) ............................................................................... 58 Navy Environment Sensing Satellites in the 1960s ....................................................................................