Eyes In The Sky

Published November 2001 - Ad Astra Magazine

It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood movie or a Tom Clancy novel. In a godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere, terrorists train how to create mayhem and chaos abroad. Later, in the still of the night, an international attack team from the Collation moves in, attacking all threats with deadly efficiency and accuracy. They already know exactly who and what is there, and where. The entire raid is watched in real-time from Washington, clear on the other side of the world. Now realize that this isn't a movie, or a novel; it is what can happen today.

It is said that in war, knowledge is power. To this end, knowledge is obtained through many different methods. While Human Intelligence (HUMINT) plays a critical role concerning the thoughts and motivation, a large amount of tactical information is obtained by satellite reconnaissance. In the early days of airborne recon, hot air balloons were used to observe the battlefield. Armed with this knowledge, critical decisions could be made regarding the placement of armament, numbers, strengths, and positions. During the First World War, the balloon was replaced by the more manoeuvrable aircraft, which continued to be a source of information up to the early 1960's. This view changed, however, when Francis Gary Powers' U-2 plane was shot down in 1960 over Russia. It was then that it became apparent the safest and most reliable position to carry out recon was in space in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Launched in August 1960, CORONA was the first of 92 American recon satellites put into orbit by 1974. These included such satellites such as Argon, Discoverer, Samos, and Lanyard. During the Cold War, these were used to watch over the U.S.S.R. In the early days of satellite imagery, data retrieval was not the quick, efficient system that it is today. To receive the data, it was required to jettison a film canister down from space. This in turn was picked up either via aircraft, or where it landed. In this present age, we have progressed from the film canisters used in the early craft to the near real-time broadcast capability of the Keyhole, Orion, and Lacrosse satellites, and with greater quality images and information.