Mapping Imagery
Missions 1205 through 1216 carried a "mapping camera" (also known as a "frame camera") that used 9 inch film and had a moderately low resolution of initially 30 ft (9 m), which improved to 20 ft (6 m) on later missions (somewhat better than LANDSAT). Intended for mapmaking, photos this camera took cover essentially the entire Earth with at least some images between 1973 and 1980. Almost all the imagery from this camera, amounting to 29,000 images, each covering 3400 square km, was declassified in 2002 as a result of Executive order 12951, the same order which declassified CORONA, and copies of the films were transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems office. Images from the mapping camera covering the state of Israel and all imagery from the KH-9's other cameras remain classified.
The KH-9 was never a backup project for the KH-10 Manned Orbital Laboratory. It was developed solely as a replacement for the Corona search system.
Read more about this topic: KH-9 Hexagon
Famous quotes containing the word imagery:
“The Dada object reflected an ironic posture before the consecrated forms of art. The surrealist object differs significantly in this respect. It stands for a mysterious relationship with the outer world established by man’s sensibility in a way that involves concrete forms in projecting the artist’s inner model.”
—J.H. Matthews. “Object Lessons,” The Imagery of Surrealism, Syracuse University Press (1977)