Keyhole satellite projects

FULCRUM is predecessor project to KH-9 HEXAGON
on initiative of CIA, but operated by NRO.
It began in may 1963 as in-house CIA effort. to replace CORONA and failed SAMOS E-6

This Spy Sat project was unusual im many way.
CIA wanted to use modified Titan II launcher instead Atlas-Agena used by NRO.
with Mass of 5500 lb. using reaction wheels and hydrogen peroxide fuelled RCS to stabilise the spacecraft.
Operational time was limits to 8 day do use battery and used single new build return capsule.

The camera system was similar to HEXAGON design, to build by ITEK corp.
Planned with camera resolution of 2 to 4 feet.
CIA consider to increase later the camera resolution, so the FULCRUM could replace CORONA and GAMBIT.

in 1964 the Titan III was study as backup for Titan II.

1965 the Perkin-Elmer corp. was ask to make independent approach on FULCRUM Cameras.
Because ITEK run into problem with Camera system, so far that Eastman-Kodak was called to Help them !
ITEK terminate their FULCRUM contract and project was handed to Perkin-Elmer corp.
while Eastman-Kodak ende cooperation and start work on DORIAN (MOL) camera system.
the contracts for hardware are give to Lockheed (sat) and McDonnell/Douglas (return vehicle)
around 1968 ended funding for FULCRUM because,
in meantime emerge HEXAGON out FULCRUM, with Camera system by Perkin-Elmer corp.
but much heavier with more reentry capsule and launch by Titan IIIC rocket
 

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WS117L
DISCOVERER
SAMOS E1 E2 (E3) E4 E5 E6
CORONA
ARGON
LANYARD
GAMBIT-1
GAMBIT-3
HEXAGON
DORIAN
KENNEN
 
It took under CORONA 14 Discoverer missions to get first picture from space on August 18, 1960.
 

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Corona gets a fair bit of coverage in this.

Aerial Photography: An Overview

Dec 5, 2023
Did you know that to get photos from the air someone built a camera that could fit on a pigeon? Really it’s true, and people have attached cameras to kites, sent people with camera equipment up in hot air balloons, and even developed specialized reconnaissance aircraft that could hold a pilot and a photographer. Pictures from the air have become important for spying, search and rescue, tracking changes on Earth, and even identifying archaeological sites!
Click to expand...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzkvK-Wz02g
 
jsport said:
breakingdefense.com

NRO should concentrate on bigger, badder 'tripwire' ISR birds, new report urges - Breaking Defense

Meanwhile, the report says, the Space Force should be in charge of pursuing large networks of small satellites under the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) — differentiating its "tactical ISR" job from the "strategic" mission of NRO.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
Click to expand...
Writer seems to be unaware of how orbital mechanics times number of places of interest mean that you do need a large number of satellites, whether these mini constellations or pointing Hubble at Earth.
 
jsport said:
breakingdefense.com

NRO should concentrate on bigger, badder 'tripwire' ISR birds, new report urges - Breaking Defense

Meanwhile, the report says, the Space Force should be in charge of pursuing large networks of small satellites under the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) — differentiating its "tactical ISR" job from the "strategic" mission of NRO.
breakingdefense.com breakingdefense.com
Click to expand...
www.defenseone.com

'You can’t hide': Spy agency will have 100 new sats on orbit by year's end

Persistent imagery is key for future intel-gathering, NRO director says.
www.defenseone.com www.defenseone.com
 
At some point or another five camera companies worked with the spooks - not all of them on spysats, but also on drones and manned aircraft.

-Hycon ----------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Gardner
-Perkin-Elmer----- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PerkinElmer
-Eastman Kodak-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak#Post-war_expansion
-Fairchild---------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Camera_and_Instrument#Fairchild_Aviation_Corporation
-Itek--------------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itek

Hycon never built spysat cameras but landed contracts for the U-2, Ryan Model 147 and Lockheed D-21 drones.
-Itek : CORONA
-Eastman-Kodak : SAMOS, GAMBIT, MOL
-Perkin-Elmer : KH-9 HEXAGON
-Fairchild - spysat mapping cameras

The KH-9 was a turning point: it saw Itek downfall and the rise of Perkin-Elmer.
ambivalentengineer.blogspot.com

Optical Bar Cameras

[Update: I'd like to thank Phil Pressel, John Gregor, and Gordon Petrie for their corrections to this post. The changes required have bee...
ambivalentengineer.blogspot.com ambivalentengineer.blogspot.com
 
Kodak also did KENNEN and FIA, although the company sold off that capability at some point.

Itek had the spotting system optics on MOL. And Itek initially had FULCRUM, lost it and it became HEXAGON.
 
Archibald said:
At some point or another five camera companies worked with the spooks - not all of them on spysats, but also on drones and manned aircraft.
​
Click to expand...

I suggest that if you're going to compile a list, you also start listing airborne reconnaissance cameras. That will help identify links. For instance, Itek was involved in the development of the SR-71's camera. I'm blanking on the designation at the moment, but it was something like KA-80. Also connected to the IRIS, IRIS II, and then eventually the Apollo PanCam. (With a little digging, I could probably find the proper designations.) I think that Hycon developed the B-Camera for the U-2. And there were a million tactical reconnaissance cameras flown in the RF-8, RA-5C, etc.

What might become apparent--thinking out loud here--is that there was a divide between the large optics companies and the small optics companies. Kodak and Perkin-Elmer were large optics companies. Itek was sorta in the middle. I think that Hycon and Fairchild were in the smaller optics side. But I'm just guessing without knowing who made all the tactical aerial cameras.
 
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I readily agree that all five of them overlapped between spysat, spyplanes and drones. The whole thing being very tangled.

The U-2 and SR-71 extended families seems to have cameras from two or even three different companies. That's a major headache to sort out, even more with sources being very scattered.

From memory the U-2 alone had Hycon and Itek cameras (the latter with groundbreaking optical bar technology) and perhaps Kodak too.

This listing may be a good place to start Shows that Perkin-Elmer did manufacture the RA-5C cameras.

Hycon & drone cameras https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/aqm34/cameras.htm

A-12 OXCART https://roadrunnersinternationale.com/why_the_a-12.html

Three camera systems were developed and tested for the OXCART Program. These were identified by Type Numbers, I, II, and III.

Type I System was built by Perkin-Elmer Corporation.
Type II System was built by Eastman-Kodak Co.
Type III System was built by Hycon Corporation.
Click to expand...
 
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Archibald said:
From memory the U-2 alone had Hycon and Itek cameras (the latter with groundbreaking optical bar technology) and perhaps Kodak too.
Click to expand...

I don't know who made the U-2 A camera.
B-Camera was Hycon
C-Camera was Itek (derived from CORONA)
And then I think that the KA-80 optical bar camera was also carried, and it was Perkin-Elmer.

Some of these (or maybe only the KA-80) crossed over to the OXCART and then the SR-71.
 

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