and to control topographic maps made from the high resolution
panoramic photographs. LANYARD (KH-6) was a single long
focal length panoramic camera to provide better ground
resolution. ARGON and LANYARD were only marginally
successful. Parameters of the cameras are listed in Table 1.
TABLE 1 - CORONA CAMERA SYSTEMS
System Operational Cameras Focal Length Format Resolution
KH-1 Aug 60 1 24 in. 2.2x30in. 40 ft.
KH-2 Dec 60-Jul 61 1 24in. .22x30in. 30 ft.
KH-3 Aug61-Dec61 1 24 in. 22x30in. 25f.
KH-4 Feb62-Dec63 2 24 in. 22x30in 254.
KH-4A Aug 63-Oct69 2 24in. .22x30in, Sf
KH-4B Sep 62-May 72 2 24 in. 22 x30.in.... 6.ft.
ARGON
KH-5 May62-Ju64 1 3 in.
LANYARD
KH-6 Jul63-Aug63 1 66 in.
45x4.5in. 460 ft.
d.Sx 25in.-vr2ft
Essential contributions of the CORONA program were the
development of thin base estar film and the technique of
recovering film capsules from space. All photography from the
CORONA spacecraft has been declassified and is being digitized
primarily as a means of preservation. It is now being made
available in both hard copy and digital formats through the EROS
Data Center of the U.S. Geological Survey. The published
history of the CORONA Program (3) is fascinating reading, not
only for the vicissitudes of development but also for the
interpretation techniques which are described.
Information about the Soviet counterpart to the CORONA
program has recently become available. The ZENIT spacecraft
employed the same return capsule as the Soyuz manned program.
Instead of cosmonauts the capsule contained cameras. In Zenit-2
there were three film cameras with 1 meter focal length and 30
x 30 cm format. The three cameras were arranged to look
relations, and providing the crucial information for negotiating
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties.
DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL SATELLITE MAPPING
SYSTEMS
Political sensitivity could not forever keep the benefits of space
systems from the civil scientific community. In 1967, the
National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. conducted a Summer
Study on "Useful Applications of Earth-Oriented Satellites"(4).
Panels on Forestry-Agriculture-Geography, Geology, and
Hydrology defined the parameters of a system which was
eventually realized in the Landsat program, with the first of five
spacecraft launched in 1972.
A Geodesy-Cartography panel defined film camera systems to
produce standard topographic mapping at scales as large as
1:25,000. Unfortunately, that report tread on the toes of the
Intelligence Community and was classified until 1980. Its
recommendations eventually resulted in the Large Format
Camera carried on Shuttle Mission 41-G in October 1984. The
European Space Agency sponsored the Metric Camera - a
modified Zeiss aerial camera - which was carried on a Shuttle
Mission in December 1983. Experimental topographic maps at
1:24,000 and 1:25,000 scale with 50 foot or 10 meter contours
were produced, and high quality orthophotographs were
demonstrated. Though these cameras produced the highest
ground resolution and geometric integrity of any civil system, the
228
vertical, and left and right of the flight line, thus providing a
coverage swath of approximately 150km. Ground resolution
was about 2 meters. Film load was 1500 frames. A fourth
camera of smaller focal length and format (parameters not
specified) provided wide angle coverage to tie together the three
high resolution photographs. There was also an "electronic
reconnaissance antenna", indicating that there may have been
a electronic data return system.
In the ZENIT-4 spacecraft, the three long focal length cameras
were replaced by two folded optic cameras with 2 meter focal
length and the same 30 cm film. Total swath width would be
reduced to 50 km, but ground resolution would be improved to
about 1 meter. The index camera remains, but the electronic
antenna is missing. Both spacecraft could be rolled about the
flight axis to acquire photographs left or right of the flight line.
When the film load was expended the camera capsule was
separated and returned to Earth by parachute. In principle the
cameras could have been refurbished and reused, but it is not
known whether this was actually done.
It is obvious that these early systems were replaced by higher
capability as technology advanced in both countries. In the
United States, systems with designation up to KH-12 have been
described in the public press, but the actual parameters of these
advanced systems remain classified. Enterprising reporters and
occasional security leaks indicate that ground resolution of a
few centimeters is now possible , and film recovery has been
replaced by near real time data transmission. From the former
Soviet Union, photographs with parameters similar to those
from ZENIT are now commercially available.
Though the techniques of mapping from satellite images were
developed in both countries using these systems, there is now
general agreement by both sides that the major accomplishment
of space reconnaissance has been the stabilizing factor in
international
advances in electro-optical sensors, data transmission, and
ground processing have made film return systems obsolete, and
both cameras were abandoned after only one flight.
Landsat was followed by the French SPOT, the Japanese MOS
and JERS, the Indian IRS-1A,B, and C, the ESA MOMS, - all
electro-optical data transmission systems operating in the visual
and near infrared wavelengths. Some of the characteristics of
data currently available from these systems are given in Table
2.
Table 2. DATA FROM EO SATELLITE SYSTEMS
System LANDSAT SPOT — IRS-1C JERS-1
Country USA France India Japan
Altitude — 705 km 832 km 904 km 568 km
Sensor TM HRV LISS-III VNIR,SWIR
MS bands 7 3 4 4 4
pixel (MS) 30m 20m 23m 18m
pixel (pan) X 10m 6m X
swath 185 km 80 km 142km MS 75 km
70 km Pan
The most useful map products have bcen made by combining
the high resolution panchromatic images with the lower
resolution multispectral data to produce maps with various types
of color coding. Landsat and JERS images can be usetully
enlarged to 1:100,00 scale; SPOT can go as large as 1:25,000
scale. SPOT and JERS provide stereo coverage from which
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B4. Vienna 1996
