The Spy satellite reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Spy satellite

A spy satellite is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications.

Examples of spy satellite missions:

• high resolution photography (IMINT)
• communications eavesdropping (SIGINT)
• covert communications (HUMINT)
• enforcement of nuclear test bans
• detection of missile launches

Types of spy satellites

• United States
  • KH-1 to KH-4: Corona, the first US spy satellite took photographs of Russia and then ejected the negatives which descended to the Earth by parachute.
  • KH-5 (Argon)
  • KH-6 (Lanyard)
  • KH-7 (Gambit)
  • KH-8 (Gambit)
  • KH-9 (Hexagon/Big Bird)
  • KH-10 (Dorian) – Manned Orbiting Laboratory
  • KH-11 (Crystal/Kennan)
  • KH-12 (Ikon/Improved Crystal)
• Soviet Union
  • Cosmos

External links

• http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/
• Chronology of spy satellites
• Java 3D satellite tracker

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This is the "Spy satellite" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.