Author Topic: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s  (Read 177994 times)

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #120 on: 11/30/2017 06:08 am »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Offline Star One

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Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #121 on: 11/30/2017 06:45 am »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Next release alluded to here should be interesting as then we wade into the far more unknown waters of the seventies. Especially if they will release anything on Magnum.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2017 06:45 am by Star One »

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #122 on: 11/30/2017 07:47 am »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Next release alluded to here should be interesting as then we wade into the far more unknown waters of the seventies. Especially if they will release anything on Magnum.

I am becoming somewhat skeptical, if the MAGNUM/ORION geo SIGINT satellites were ever really named MAGNUM, as the recent declassified documents show a Subsatellite Ferret mission called MAGNUM. I had until now never found a hint on reuse of a codename.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2017 07:47 am by Skyrocket »

Offline Star One

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #123 on: 11/30/2017 11:36 am »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Next release alluded to here should be interesting as then we wade into the far more unknown waters of the seventies. Especially if they will release anything on Magnum.

I am becoming somewhat skeptical, if the MAGNUM/ORION geo SIGINT satellites were ever really named MAGNUM, as the recent declassified documents show a Subsatellite Ferret mission called MAGNUM. I had until now never found a hint on reuse of a codename.

It’s the payload that seems to haveplayed a part in Falkland’s war I am interested about. Though as that operated seemingly for an incredibly long time up until relatively recently maybe it will be excluded from declassification for now.

Offline Jim

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #124 on: 11/30/2017 02:32 pm »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Next release alluded to here should be interesting as then we wade into the far more unknown waters of the seventies. Especially if they will release anything on Magnum.

There are many before that will have to be declassified, like RHYOLITE, CANYON, etc

Offline hoku

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #125 on: 11/30/2017 05:52 pm »
Loads of new declassified documents:

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html

Next release alluded to here should be interesting as then we wade into the far more unknown waters of the seventies. Especially if they will release anything on Magnum.

There are many before that will have to be declassified, like RHYOLITE, CANYON, etc

Star One: also note that even for the POPPY series quite a number of facts are still classified. E.g., the final launch of the POPPY series (POPPY IX) was in December 1971, and the expected lifetime of this mission according to the "NSA in space" doc from 1975 is still "exempted from automatic declassification at 25 years" in the 2017 release (reason 3.3(b)(1) is provided, i.e. releasing the expected lifetime would "reveal information about the application of an intelligence source or method;").

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #126 on: 12/01/2017 03:11 am »

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #127 on: 12/01/2017 03:51 am »
This document is apparently missing:

235 Payload Vehicle

And this one links to the wrong document:

Operational Requirements and Technical Approach for WS-117L Visual and FERRET Subsystems

(it links to the Titan III document)

Hopefully they will repair the links.
« Last Edit: 12/01/2017 04:01 am by Blackstar »

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #128 on: 12/01/2017 04:35 am »
Note that this version of STRAWMAN has four solar arrays, not three. I think this is conceptual artwork and the other images represent the operational version with only three arrays.

Offline koroljow

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Geschichte und Geschichten aus mehr als sechseinhalb Jahrzehnten Raumfahrt:
http://www.raumfahrtkalender.de

Offline gwiz

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #130 on: 12/01/2017 01:19 pm »
Star One: also note that even for the POPPY series quite a number of facts are still classified. E.g., the final launch of the POPPY series (POPPY IX) was in December 1971, and the expected lifetime of this mission according to the "NSA in space" doc from 1975 is still "exempted from automatic declassification at 25 years" in the 2017 release (reason 3.3(b)(1) is provided, i.e. releasing the expected lifetime would "reveal information about the application of an intelligence source or method;").
There was an NRL list of their satellites that gave the lifetimes.  One of the Poppy 9 satellites has "8 years" against it, rest blank.  However, the Poppy History says the programme ended September 1977.

Online Alter Sachse

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #131 on: 12/01/2017 05:08 pm »
I don't know: is here the right place for this ?
http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/agena.html
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Offline Targeteer

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #132 on: 12/01/2017 07:17 pm »
Here is the NRO Facebook post announcing the latest release now being discussed.  The world sure has changed with the once Top Secret NRO now having a Facebook page...

National Reconnaissance Office 5 hrs ·

The documents in the SIGINT Phase II release demonstrate the rich history of SIGINT in U.S. intelligence efforts and show the move from mere experimentation to a significant and relied-upon source of intelligence that has informed both tactical and strategic decisions since World War II.

http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/SIGINT_PhaseII.html
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline Targeteer

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #133 on: 12/01/2017 08:21 pm »
I don't know: is here the right place for this ?
http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/agena.html


As above...

National Reconnaissance Office 6 hrs ·

While NRO has previously released records on the Agena flight control vehicle, this latest release includes almost all of the contents of the program -- demonstrating the significant role the Agena had in furthering the United States' work in developing and operating national reconnaissance satellites.
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #134 on: 12/02/2017 04:30 am »
I don't know: is here the right place for this ?
http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/agena.html


As above...

National Reconnaissance Office 6 hrs ·

While NRO has previously released records on the Agena flight control vehicle, this latest release includes almost all of the contents of the program -- demonstrating the significant role the Agena had in furthering the United States' work in developing and operating national reconnaissance satellites.

Those Agena documents have been publicly available for a long time. I copied all or most of them back in the 1990s at Maxwell Air Force Base. The problem with that collection is that it stops around 1967 and Agena was operational for another 20 years. It gives a really good overview of the creation and early development of the program, but leaves out later modifications and improvements.

Online Alter Sachse

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #135 on: 12/03/2017 02:22 pm »
New members in the POPPY-family !
POPPY 1 29.06.1961
POPPY 2 24.01.1962

One day you're a hero  next day you're a clown  there's nothing that is in between
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Offline gwiz

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #136 on: 12/04/2017 01:33 pm »
New members in the POPPY-family !
POPPY 1 29.06.1961
POPPY 2 24.01.1962
It says "Poppy II (2 Ball)".  Does this mean that there was a second Poppy payload?  The Lofti?

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #137 on: 12/04/2017 02:33 pm »
New members in the POPPY-family !
POPPY 1 29.06.1961
POPPY 2 24.01.1962
It says "Poppy II (2 Ball)".  Does this mean that there was a second Poppy payload?  The Lofti?

I think, there are mistakes in this list concerning the Grab/Poppy launches. This list omits the fifth Grab type satellite, which was lost in a Scout launch failure (26 April 1962). Apparently two launches of the five Grab launches were re-designated Poppy.
According to "The SIGINT Satellite Story", these were the 4th and 5th launch.

Offline Star One

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #138 on: 02/13/2018 08:50 pm »
Mr Day’s latest article.

And the sky full of stars: American signals intelligence satellites and the Vietnam War

Quote
Early in the morning of May 9, 1972, four A-6 Intruders and six A-7 Corsairs launched off the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea steaming in the Pacific far off the coast of North Vietnam. The aircraft headed west and dove down low, keeping under five hundred feet. Underneath the planes’ wings were naval mines, barrel-shaped devices that when dropped in the water would sink to the bottom and once activated could detonate upon detecting a passing ship. But the Coral Sea only had enough nosecones for about half the large Mk-52 magnetic mines carried by the Intruders, thus the mines created a lot of drag and slowed the aircraft down, making them vulnerable.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3430/1

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Satellite signals intelligence in the 1960s
« Reply #139 on: 02/14/2018 12:16 am »
Mr Day’s latest article.

And the sky full of stars: American signals intelligence satellites and the Vietnam War

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3430/1

Another Dwayne Day article; another Babylon 5 episode reference.  8)

(This is the Season 1 episode where the two covert human operatives kidnap him and probe his mind, searching for Cmdr. Sinclair's alleged treason during the Battle of the Line.  In doing so, it partially breaks the memory block the Minbari had placed on Sinclair when they captured and tortured/interrogated him.)

Refers back to this quote from the opening tele-movie:
Quote
...and the sky was full of stars, and every star was an exploding ship — one of ours.
--Jeffrey Sinclair

And, yes, an enjoyable and informative article!
« Last Edit: 02/14/2018 12:32 am by zubenelgenubi »
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