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KH-9 (
BYEMAN The BYEMAN Control System, or simply BYEMAN (designated BYE, or B), was a security control system put in place to protect information about the National Reconnaissance Office and its operations. History The BYEMAN Control System (BCS) was put in p ...
codename HEXAGON), commonly known as Big Bird or KeyHole-9, p.32 Big Bird was a series of
photographic Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many ...
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 ...
s launched by the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
between 1971 and 1986. Of twenty launch attempts by the
National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...
(NRO), all but one were successful.
Photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...
aboard the KH-9 was stored on RCA Astro Electronic Division take up reel system then sent back to
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
in recoverable film return capsules for processing and interpretation. The highest ground resolution achieved by the main cameras of the satellite was , though another source says "images in the "better-than-one-foot" category" for the last "Gambit" missions. They are also officially known as the Broad Coverage Photo Reconnaissance satellites (Code 467), built by
Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-u ...
for the NRO. The satellites were an important factor in determining
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
military capabilities and in the acquisition of accurate intelligence for the formulation of U.S. national policy decisions as well as deployment of U.S. forces and weapon systems. The satellites were instrumental in U.S. National Technical Means of Verification of
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War superpowers dealt with arms control in two rounds of ...
(SALT) and the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, also known as the ABM Treaty or ABMT, was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ball ...
(ABMT). The KH-9 was declassified in September 2011 and an example was put on public display for a single day on 17 September 2011 in the parking lot of the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous exhibits, ...
of the
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...
. On 26 January 2012, the
National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...
put a KH-9 on public display along with its predecessors the KH-7 and
KH-8 The KH-8 (BYEMAN codename Gambit-3) was a long-lived series of reconnaissance satellites of the "Key Hole" (KH) series used by the United States from July 1966 to April 1984, and also known as Low Altitude Surveillance Platform. The satellite ej ...
.


Development

KH-9 was, according to many who worked on it, the most sophisticated mechanical satellite in history. It was conceived in the early 1960s as a replacement for the
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 ...
search satellites. The goal was to search large areas of the Earth with a medium resolution camera. The KH-9 carried two main cameras, although a mapping camera was also carried on several missions. The
photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...
from the cameras was sent to recoverable re-entry vehicles and returned to Earth, where the capsules were caught in mid-air by an aircraft. Four re-entry vehicles were carried on most missions, with a fifth added for missions that included a mapping camera. Between September 1966 and July 1967, the contractors for the Hexagon subsystems were selected.
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) was a unit of the Lockheed Corporation "Missiles, Space, and Electronics Systems Group." LMSC was started by Willis Hawkins who served as its president. After Lockheed merged with Martin-Marietta the ...
(LMSC) was awarded the contract for the Satellite Basic Assembly (SBA),
Perkin Elmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation that was founded in 1937 and originally focused on precision optics. Over the years it went into and out of several different businesses via acquisitions and di ...
for the primary Sensor Subsystem (SS), McDonnell for the Reentry Vehicle (RV), RCA Astro-Electronics Division for the Film Take-Up system, and
Itek Itek Corporation was a United States defense contractor that initially specialized in camera systems for spy satellites and various other reconnaissance systems. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litt ...
for the Stellar Index camera (SI). Integration and ground-testing of Satellite Vehicle-1 (SV-1) were completed in May 1971, and it was subsequently shipped to
Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...
in a container. Ultimately, four generations ("blocks") of KH-9 HEXAGON reconnaissance satellites were developed. KH9-7 (missions 7 to 12) was the first to fly a Block-II panoramic camera and SBA. Block-III (missions 13 to 18) included upgrades to electrical distribution and batteries. Two added tanks with ullage control for the Orbit Adjust System (OAS) and new thrusters for the
Reaction Control System A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses Thrusters (spacecraft), thrusters to provide Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control and translation (physics), translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels can be used for at ...
(RCS) served to increase KH-9's operational lifetime. In addition, the
nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...
supply for the film transport system and the camera vessel was increased. Block-IV (missions 19 and 20) was equipped with an extended command system using plated-wire memory. In the mid 1970s, over 1,000 people in the
Danbury, Connecticut Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...
area worked on the secret project. A reentry vehicle from the first Hexagon satellite sank to below the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
after its parachute failed. The retrieved its payload in April 1972 after a lengthy search, but the film had disintegrated during the nine months underwater, leaving no usable photographs. Over the duration of the program, the lifetime of the individual satellites increased steadily. The final KH-9 operated for 275 days. The satellite
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
with and without the Mapping Camera System was , respectively. NRO intended to replace HEXAGON with ZEUS, later DAMON—HEXAGON's camera flown on the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
—but DAMON was canceled in December 1980. In December 1976 NRO launched the first
KH-11 KENNEN 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 ...
. While its
electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...
digital imaging Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of a digital representation of the visual characteristics of an object, such as a physical scene or the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include ...
had a smaller field of view than HEXAGON, by not needing film KENNEN was usable for years.


Main KH-9 components


Satellite Control Section

The Satellite Control Section (SCS), which forms the aft part of the SBA, started as Air Force Project 467. SCS was intended as a more capable replacement for the on-orbit propulsion, which had been provided by the Agena
upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own Rocket engine, engines and Rocket propellant, propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of anoth ...
for previous generations of reconnaissance satellites. The SCS featured an increased diameter of (compared to for the Agena) and a length of . It housed
hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...
propellant tanks for the pressure fed Orbital Adjust System (OAS) and the Reaction Control System (RCS). OAS and RCS were connected by a transfer line to facilitate propellant exchange. The tank pressure was maintained within the operational range by additional high pressure nitrogen tanks. The SCS incorporated a freon gas system for backup attitude control inherited from the Agena, commonly referred to as "lifeboat". SCS was equipped with deployable
solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...
and an ''unfurlable''
parabolic antenna A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or p ...
for high data rate communication.


Main camera

The main camera system was designed by Perkin-Elmer to take stereo images, with a forward looking camera on the port side, and an aft looking camera on the starboard side. Images were taken at altitudes ranging from . The camera optical layout is an f/3.0 folded
Wright camera {{No citations, date=November 2024 In astrophotography, the Wright camera design, presented by Franklin Wright (Berkeley, California) in 1935, just a few years after the introduction of the Schmidt camera, was his "short" alternative to the origina ...
, with a
focal length The focal length of an Optics, optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the Multiplicative inverse, inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system Converge ...
of . The system aperture is defined by a diameter
aspheric An aspheric lens or asphere (often labeled ''ASPH'' on eye pieces) is a lens whose surface profiles are not portions of a sphere or cylinder. In photography, a lens assembly that includes an aspheric element is often called an aspherical lens. ...
corrector plate, which corrects the
spherical aberration In optics, spherical aberration (SA) is a type of aberration found in optical systems that have elements with spherical surfaces. This phenomenon commonly affects lenses and curved mirrors, as these components are often shaped in a spherical ...
of the Wright design. In each of the cameras the ground image passes through the corrector plate to a 45°-angle flat mirror, which reflects the light to a -diameter
concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon A simple polygon that is not convex is called concave, non-convex or ...
main mirror. The main mirror directs the light through an opening in the flat mirror and through a four-element lens system onto the film
platen A platen (or platten) is a platform with a variety of roles in printing or manufacturing. It can be a flat metal (or earlier, wooden) plate pressed against a medium (such as paper) to cause an impression in letterpress printing. Platen may al ...
. The cameras could scan contiguous areas up to 120° wide, and achieved a ground resolution better than during the later phase of the project. Dwayne Allen Day calculated, using disclosed specifications, that HEXAGON was capable of at nadir, and at apogee.


Mapping camera

Missions 1205 to 1216 carried a "mapping camera" (also known as a "frame camera") that used film and had a moderately low resolution of initially , which improved to on later missions (somewhat better than
LANDSAT The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint NASA / USGS program. On 23 July 1972, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Lan ...
). Intended for mapmaking, photos this camera took cover the entire
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
with images between 1973 and 1981. Almost all the imagery from this camera, amounting to 29,000 images, each covering , was declassified in 2002 as a result of Executive order 12951, the same order which declassified CORONA, and copies of the films were transferred to the
U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
's Earth Resources Observation Systems office. Scientific analysis of declassified KH-9 satellite images continues to reveal historic trends and changes in climate and terrestrial geology. A 2019 study of glacial melt in the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
over the past half-century used data collected by KH-9 satellites throughout the 1970s and 1980s to demonstrate that melt rates had doubled since 1975. The KH-9 was never a backup project for the KH-10
Manned Orbital Laboratory The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a succ ...
. It was developed solely as a replacement for the Corona search system.


Reentry vehicles

The forward section of KH-9 housed four McDonnell Douglas Mark 8 satellite reentry vehicles (RV), which were fed film exposed by the main cameras. Each RV had an empty mass of 434 kg. It housed a film take-up assembly (built by RCA Astro Electronic Division) with a mass of 108 kg, and could store about 227 kg of film. The twelve mapping missions were equipped with an additional General Electrics Mark V RV, which could store about 32 kg of film for a total mass of 177 kg.


High-altitude atmospheric density

Missions 1205 to 1207 carried Doppler beacons to help map the atmospheric density at high altitudes in an effort to understand the effect on ephemeris predictions. The measurements of the atmospheric density were released through
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
.


ELINT subsatellites

Missions 1203, 1207, 1208, 1209, and 1212 to 1219 included Ferret
ELINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
sub-satellites, which were launched into a
high Earth orbit A high Earth orbit is a geocentric orbit with an apsis, apogee farther than that of the geosynchronous orbit, which is height above mean sea level, away from Earth. In this article, the non-standard abbreviation of ''HEO'' is used for high Ear ...
to catalogue Soviet air defence radars, eavesdrop on voice communications, and tape missile and satellite telemetry. Missions 1210 to 1212 also included scientific subsatellites.


IRCB (S73-7)

IRCB (Infra-Red Calibration Balloon) was an 66 cm diameter inflatable calibration sphere orbited in the
Space Test Program The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Outline of space science, space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and De ...
. It was a piggy-back payload on KH9-8 (1208) boosting it to a 500 mile (800 kilometers)
circular orbit A circular orbit is an orbit with a fixed distance around the barycenter; that is, in the shape of a circle. In this case, not only the distance, but also the speed, angular speed, Potential energy, potential and kinetic energy are constant. T ...
. It disappeared from ground-based sensors in the 1990s, and was found again in 2024.


KH-9 missions

(NSSDC ID Numbers: ''See''
COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Science, International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU) and its first chair was Hildegard Korf Kallmann-Bijl. Among COSPAR's objec ...
)


Cost

The total cost of the 20 flights KH-9 program from FY1966 to FY1986 was US$3.262 billion in respective year dollars (equivalent to billion in , with an average reference year of 1976).


Specifications

''Data source:'' The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft and
NSSDC The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) serves as the permanent archive for NASA space science mission data. "Space science" includes astronomy and astrophysics, solar and space plasma (physics), plasma physics, and planetary scien ...
* Launch vehicle: Titan IIID/ 34D * Total weight: , with mapping camera * Reentry weight: * Max. diameter (main body): * Length (with mapping camera): * Orbit: elliptical, * Scanners: television, radio, and high resolution camera


Declassification

The HEXAGON images have been declassified in 2011 as a continuation of Executive Order 12951. The declassified imagery has since been used by a team of scientists from Dartmouth College to detect
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
forts in Syria, and the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC) to detect
qanat A qanāt () or kārīz () is a water supply system that was developed in ancient Iran for the purpose of transporting usable water to the surface from an aquifer or a well through an underground aqueduct. Originating approximately 3,000 years ...
irrigation systems.


Gallery

HEXAGON 11.png, The reaction control system of a KH-9, showing the propellant tanks. HEXAGON 12.png, A KH-9 in scaffolding, being prepared for launch. HEXAGON Film being despooled.png, A technician despools one of the re-entry modules which contained the film used by the cameras. HEXAGON Factory to Launch sequence.png, A diagram showing the assembly, testing and launch preparations of a KH-9. HEXAGON Forward section with mapping camera.png, The forward section of a KH-9. HEXAGON Re-entry vehicle.png, A KH-9 re-entry module hanging from its parachute, ready to be retrieved. HEXAGON Reaction Control Module.png, Another view of the KH-9's reaction control system. HEXAGON satellite vehicle transporter.png, A KH-9 being transported by truck in a special canister. HEXAGON Shroud and Base in Acoustic Chamber.png, The shroud and base of a KH-9 undergo vibration tests in an acoustic chamber. KH-9 HEXAGON satellite 2.jpg, This painting of a KH-9 shows the two different camera types that the satellite carried. KH-9 HEXAGON satellite.jpg, Basic specifications and diagram of the KH-9. KH9 HEXAGON profile.png, This diagram shows the various sections of the KH-9 and their dimensions. HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-1.jpg, A KH-9 at the
National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is ...
(front view). HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-2.jpg, A KH-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (forward section). HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-3.jpg, A KH-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (film recovery unit). HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-4.jpg, A KH-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (center section). HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-5.jpg, A KH-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (left camera). HEXAGON KH-9 at USAF Museum-6.jpg, A KH-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (rear view without solar panels).


See also

Other U.S. imaging spy satellites: *
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-5 ARGON was a series of reconnaissance satellites produced by the United States from February 1961 to August 1964. The KH-5 operated similarly to the CORONA (satellite), CORONA series of satellites, as it ejected a canister of photograph ...
*
KH-6 Lanyard BYEMAN codenamed LANYARD, the KH-6 was the unsuccessful first attempt to develop and deploy a very high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. Launches and launch attempts spanned the ...
*
KH-7 Gambit BYEMAN codenamed GAMBIT, the KH-7 (Air Force Program 206) was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older Corona (satellite), CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photog ...
*
KH-8 Gambit 3 The KH-8 (Byeman Control System, BYEMAN codename Gambit-3) was a long-lived series of reconnaissance satellites of the "Key Hole" (KH) series used by the United States from July 1966 to April 1984, and also known as Low Altitude Surveillance Pla ...
* KH-10 (
Manned Orbiting Laboratory The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a succ ...
) *
KH-11 Kennen 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 ...
* KH-13 (
Enhanced Imaging System 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 program. A derivative of the Improved Crysta ...
)


References


External links

* US Geological Survey Satellite Images
Photographic imagery from KH-7 Surveillance and KH-9 Mapping system (1963 to 1980).

"KH-9 Hexagon Spy Satellite Makes a Rare Public Outing (Photos and Video)"
{{US Reconnaissance Satellites 1971 in spaceflight Reconnaissance satellites of the United States Surveillance Military equipment introduced in the 1970s National Reconnaissance Office