Meeting the Challenge: The Hexagon Reconnaissance Satellite is the
recently declassified story of the design, development, production,
and operation of the Hexagon KH-9 reconnaissance satellite. It
provided invaluable photographic intelligence to the United States
government, and it stands as one of the most complicated systems
ever put into space. In 1965 CIA Director John McCone issued the
call for a satellite with unparalleled technical requirements that
could visually map most of the landmass of the earth, photograph
selected areas of interest, and return the resulting film safely to
Earth. Developed by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation and operated
between 1971 and 1986 Hexagon was the last film-based orbiting
photo-reconnaissance satellite.This engineering marvel features the
following achievements: the world's largest spherical thermal
vacuum chamber used to test the system; the development and use of
new and sophisticated electronics, such as LED's and brushless
motors; the ability to precisely control the synchronization of
film traveling at up to 200 inches per second at the focal plane,
on a rotating camera, mounted in a moving vehicle and focused on a
moving earth; sixty miles of film used on each mission; and, stereo
photography of the entire surface of the earth. When film captured
by the satellite was sent back to earth it launched in a
film-return capsule which was snagged by an aircraft as it
parachuted downward upon reentering the earth's atmosphere. In 1972
a film bucket containing sensitive images sank to the bottom of the
Pacific Ocean, resulting in a daring rescue three miles underwater
by the U.S. Navy's submergence vehicle Trieste II. Featuring both
technical details and historical anecdotes, former Perkin-Elmer
engineer Phil Pressel has written the definitive account of this
important chapter in U.S. intelligence and aerospace history.
General
Imprint: |
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2013 |
Authors: |
Phil Pressel
|
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
300 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-62410-203-5 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-62410-203-4 |
Barcode: |
9781624102035 |
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