Structural Design and History of the Formerly Top Secret KH-9 Hexagon Spy Satellite

摘要

The paper is about the development, design, fabrication and use of the KH-9 Hexagon spy in the sky satellite camera system that was finally declassified by the National Reconnaissance Office on September 17, 2011 twenty five years after the program ended. It was the last film based reconnaissance camera and was known by experts in the field as "the most complicated system ever put up in orbit." It provided important intelligence for the United States government and was the reason that President Nixon was able to sign the SALT treaty as it provided the means of verification. The paper explains in detail how the system worked and met the stringent optical performance requirements. The camera optics had to remain in alignment and in focus after being subjected to severe launch vibration, quasi-static loads and on-orbit thermal and vacuum conditions. Each satellite weighed 30,000 pounds and carried two cameras thereby permitting pictures to be taken in stereo. Each camera carried up to 30 miles of film for a total of 60 miles of film. Ultra-complex mechanisms controlled the structurally "wimpy" film that traveled at speeds up to 204 inches per second at the focal plane and was perfectly synchronized to the optical image.