Enhanced Imaging System (EIS), officially referred to as "Enhanced Imagery System", previously known as 8X, and sometimes unofficially known as Misty 2 and KH-13, is an American
reconnaissance satellite
A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.
The ...
program. A derivative of the
Improved Crystal satellites, EIS replaced
Misty
In cryptography, MISTY1 (or MISTY-1) is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric.
MISTY1 is one of the selected algorithms in the European NESSIE project, and has been among the cryptographic tech ...
, and was intended to provide more coverage and dwell time than previous reconnaissance satellites;
like Misty, it has
stealth
Stealth may refer to:
Military
*Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles
**Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology
** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology
** Ste ...
capabilities.
Only one EIS satellite has been launched;
USA-144
Misty is reportedly the name of a classified project by the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to operate stealthy reconnaissance satellites. The satellites are conjectured to be photo reconnaissance satellites and the program h ...
, which was placed into orbit by a
Titan IVB rocket on 22 May 1999.
History
In 1995, a ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' article reported that the 8X program was intended as "a major upgrade to the KH-12", with a mass of as much as 20
tons, which would be used for detailed imaging with a wide field of view. The cost of the program was a subject of disagreement from some within the military at the time.
By 1998, the program had been renamed Enhanced Imaging System.
The
Future Imagery Architecture
Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) was a program awarded to Boeing to design a new generation of optical and radar imaging US reconnaissance satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). In 2005 NRO director Donald Kerr recommended t ...
program, which was intended to replace the
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
and Improved Crystal satellites, was developed alongside EIS.
See also
*
Corona
Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to:
* Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star
* Corona (beer), a Mexican beer
* Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...
series:
KH-1,
KH-2,
KH-3,
KH-4
*
KH-5 ARGON,
KH-6 LANYARD
*
KH-7 and
KH-8 GAMBIT
*
KH-9 HEXAGON
KH-9 (Byeman Control System, BYEMAN codename HEXAGON), commonly known as Big Bird or KeyHole-9, p.32 Big Bird was a series of photographic reconnaissance satellites launched by the United States between 1971 and 1986. Of twenty launch attempt ...
"Big Bird"
*
Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) or
KH-10
*
KH-11
The KH-11 KENNEN (later renamed CRYSTAL,p.199-200 then Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL System, and codenamed 1010 and Key Hole) is a type of reconnaissance satellite first launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in December 19 ...
References
Further reading
*John Pike (July 24, 1998)
8X Enhanced Imaging System ''Federation of American Scientists''. Accessed May 3, 2004 (October 17, 2001).
US space-based reconnaissance reinforced ''
Jane's Defence Weekly
''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...
''. Accessed May 3, 2004.
{{Use American English, date=January 2014
Reconnaissance satellites of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1990s