In 1995 the Central Intelligence Agency declassified the existence of the CORONA series of reconnaissance satellites, which had operated from 1960 until 1972. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had approved the satellites development in early 1958, was hailed by agency and military officials as a visionary who had approved a revolutionary intelligence collection system. But in 1960, after Gary Powers U-2 was shot down over the Soviet Union and high-resolution photography of Soviet targets ceased, Eisenhower approved a second reconnaissance satellite named GAMBIT that was equally revolutionary to the CORONA. GAMBIT produced very-high-resolution photographs of Soviet military installations until the last launch, in 1985. (Spy satellite names were almost always printed in all-caps in official documents.)
ISRO to develop vigilance satellite Plans are afoot to develop a low-cost satellite to monitor ships and small fishing vessels in Indian waters. The satellite will be developed by the shipping ministry in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation, a top official of the shipping ministry said on Tuesday. Speaking at a seminar on Maritime Security -- Issues and Challenges', organised by the directorate general of shipping and the Indian port associations, A P V N Sarma, secretary, shipping, said the department was in talks with ISRO for developing the satellite.
Since the Cold War, throughout the space race, during Glasnost and even today, Russia has launched thousands of Cosmos-series rockets. Forty years ago on Dec. 26, 1968, as Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders returned to Earth the first humans to orbit the moon the Soviet Union launched Cosmos 262. The mission, the Soviets announced, was to study solar ultraviolet radiation and X-rays. Not all Cosmos flights have been as passive. The Cold War-era "Spies in the Sky," (Scribner's/1972, printed in Great Britain), explains the "Russians have applied the name Cosmos to a range of satellites with widely differing capabilities." Flights in the 1960s, varying in dimension and design, and weighing as much as 10 tons, tested re-entry systems as the Soviets sought to be the first on the moon.
Washington, D.C., home of the CIA, National Security Administration (NSA) and FBI, is a well-known haven for spies and surveillance. But new aerial pictures of the White House, Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial show these government agencies aren't the only ones watching and being watched. These latest images from Dulles, Va., satellite-imaging company, GeoEye, are among the first to be collected by the GeoEye 1, a satellite launched into polar orbit on September 6 that can "see" objects on Earth as small as 0.41 metre in size in black-and-white mode or 1.64 metres in colour.
Differences between the Pentagon and intelligence agencies over capabilities to be built into future U.S. satellites have led to delayed starts in new programs and may result in a decline in U.S. space dominance, according to a new report by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Pentagon OKs spy satellite purchase The Pentagon has approved plans to buy and launch two commercial-class imagery satellites to complement its classified constellation of spy satellites.
For most people, photographing something that isn't there might be tough. Not so for Trevor Paglen. His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far.
It was supposed to circle the earth and spy on Russia. But it ended up, instead, in the hands of Mike Clements, trucker and amateur astronomer. Read more
On February 14th the Pentagon held a news conference to announce that the United States was planning on firing a missile to blow up one of its errant satellites, named USA 193, in order to prevent its hydrazine fuel from reaching the ground. General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, denied that the planned attack on the satellite had anything to do with preventing its classified equipment from reaching the ground. This is probably true. As the Columbia accident demonstrated, spacecraft, even those intended to survive re-entry, break up into barely recognisable pieces over large amounts of territory when they do not re-enter properly. And general officers rarely face television cameras and tell flat-out lies.