In 1955-1956, spy satellites began to be actively developed in the USSR and the USA. In the USA it was a series of Korona devices, and in the USSR a series of Zenit devices. First-generation space scouts (American Corona and Soviet Zenith) took photographs, and then released containers with the captured photographic film, which descended to the ground. Corona capsules were picked up in the air during a parachute descent. Later spacecraft were equipped with photo television systems and transmitted images using encrypted radio signals.
On March 16, 1955, the United States Air Force formally commissioned the development of an advanced reconnaissance satellite to provide continuous surveillance of 'preselected areas of the Earth' to determine a potential adversary's readiness for war.
On February 28, 1959, the first photographic reconnaissance satellite created under the CORONA program (open name Discoverer) was launched in the United States. He was supposed to conduct reconnaissance primarily over the USSR and China. The photographs taken by his equipment, developed by Itek, returned to Earth in a descent capsule.
The reconnaissance equipment was first sent into space in the summer of 1959 on the fourth device in the series, and the first successful return of the capsule with the film was taken from the Discoverer 14 satellite in August 1960.
The first spy satellite "Corona".
On May 22, 1959, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued Resolution No. 569-264 on the creation of the first Soviet reconnaissance satellite 2K (Zenit) and, on its basis, the manned spacecraft Vostok (1K). In 1960, the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant began designing the Ftor-2 equipment for survey-cartographic and detailed photography. The serial production of this camera began in 1962. At the beginning of 1964, by order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR No. 0045, the Zenit-2 survey photo reconnaissance complex was put into service. All spy satellites were launched under the ordinal names "Cosmos". Over a 33-year period, more than five hundred Zenits have been launched, making it the most numerous type of satellites of this class in the history of space flight.
Spy satellite "Zenith" … In 1956, the Soviet government issued a secret decree on the development of the Object D program, which led to the launch program for Sputnik-3 and Sputnik-1 (PS-1) and is a highly simplified side version of the Object D program. The text of the decree still represents is a state secret, but apparently it was this decree that led to the creation of another satellite - Object OD-1, which was to be used for photographic reconnaissance from space.
By 1958, OKB-1 was simultaneously working on the design of objects OD-1 and OD-2, which led to the creation of the first manned spacecraft Vostok. By April 1960, a preliminary design of the Vostok-1 satellite ship was developed, presented as an experimental device designed to test the design and create on its basis the Vostok-2 reconnaissance satellite and the Vostok-3 manned spacecraft. The procedure for creating and launching satellite ships was determined by the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU No. 587-238 "On the plan for the development of outer space" of June 4, 1960. All ships of this type had the name "Vostok", but after in 1961 this name became known as the name of the spacecraft of Yuri Gagarin, the reconnaissance satellite "Vostok-2" was renamed "Zenit-2", and the series of spacecraft itself type was named "Zenith".
The Zenit 2 spacecraft descent vehicle.
The first launch of "Zenith" took place on December 11, 1961, but due to an error in the third stage of the rocket, the ship was destroyed by detonation. The second attempt on April 26, 1962 was successful and the device received the designation Cosmos-4. However, a failure in the orientation system did not give the first results from the satellite. The third Zenit (Cosmos 7) was launched on July 28, 1962 and returned successfully with photographs eleven days later. There were 13 launches of the Zenit-2 spacecraft, 3 of which ended in a launch vehicle accident. In total, within the framework of normal operation, the Zenit-2 spacecraft was launched 81 times (7 launches ended in a launch vehicle accident in the active phase). In 1964, by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense, it was adopted by the Soviet Army. Serial production was organized at TsSKB-Progress in Kuibyshev. Since 1968, a gradual transition to the modernized Zenit-2M spacecraft began, and the number of Zenit-2 launches began to decline.
In total, 8 modifications of this type of apparatus were developed and reconnaissance flights continued until 1994.
Assembly of the satellite Kosmos-4.
In 1964, SP Korolev's OKB-1 was tasked with improving the characteristics of the Zenit-2 reconnaissance satellites. The studies were carried out in three directions: the modernization of the Zenit satellites, the development of the Soyuz-R manned reconnaissance vehicle and the creation of a new automatic reconnaissance spacecraft based on the Soyuz-R design. The third direction received the designation "Amber".
"Amber" - a family of Russian (formerly Soviet) specialized satellites for aerial reconnaissance, developed to supplement and then replace the Zenit series reconnaissance vehicles.
The artificial Earth satellite Kosmos-2175 of the Yantar-4K2 or Cobalt type became the first spacecraft launched by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Precision optics installed on the satellite allows fixing details of the earth's surface up to 30 cm in size on photographic film. The captured images are delivered to Earth in special capsules, which after landing will be delivered for processing to the Space Reconnaissance Center. Approximately a month passes between the photographing and the capsule descent, which significantly reduces the value of the images, in contrast to the Persona spacecraft, which transmits information via a radio channel.
Yantar-Terylene (launched on 28.12.1982) became the first Russian digital reconnaissance platform transmitting the collected data via satellites-repeaters of the Potok type to a ground station in close to real time. In addition, the devices of the Yantar series became the basis for the development of later satellites of the Orlets and Persona reconnaissance systems and the Resurs-DK civilian satellite for remote sensing of the Earth.
"Yantar-4K2" or "Cobalt".
A total of 174 satellites of the "amber" series were launched, nine of them were lost in emergency launches. The most recent device of the series was the Kosmos-2480 photo-reconnaissance satellite of the Yantar-4K2M or Cobalt-M type, launched into orbit on May 17, 2012. All devices of the series were launched using the Soyuz-U launch vehicle, and the launch of Kosmos-2480 was announced as the last launch of this type of launch vehicle. In the future, it is planned to use the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle to launch satellites of the Yantar family into orbit.
"A person" - Russian military optical reconnaissance satellite of the third generation, designed to obtain high-resolution images and their operational transmission to the Earth via a radio channel. The new type of satellites has been developed and manufactured at the Samara Rocket and Space Center TsSKB-Progress, while the optical system is being manufactured at the St. Petersburg Optical and Mechanical Association LOMO. The satellite was ordered by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU General Staff) of the Russian Armed Forces. The spacecraft replaced the previous generation of Neman-type satellites (Yantar 4KS1m).
The competition for the creation of a new optical-electronic reconnaissance satellite "Persona" was held by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2000. The projects "TsSKB-Progress" and NPO named after S. A. Lavochkin were considered. The TsSKB-Progress project was a modification of the Neman satellite of the previous generation. In addition, he inherited a lot from the civilian spacecraft "Resurs-DK". The competing project of NPO named after S. A. Lavochkin was also an improved satellite of the previous generation "Araks". After the victory of the Persona project in the competition, the launch of the first spacecraft was planned for 2005, but due to the delay in ground tests, its launch took place only in 2008. The cost of creating the first satellite is estimated at 5 billion rubles. The launch of the second Persona spacecraft is planned for March 2013.
The idea of the overall dimensions of the "Persona" spacecraft.
Don (Orlets-1) - the codename of a series of Russian satellites for broadband detailed and survey photographic reconnaissance. The resolution of the obtained images is 0.95 m per point.
The development of the device began in April 1979 at the State Rocket and Space Center "TsSKB-Progress". The first launch of the satellite took place on July 18, 1989, and it was accepted into operation on August 25, 1992.
For the prompt delivery of the captured photographic film to the ground, a drum with eight returnable capsules is provided on the apparatus. After taking photographs, the film is loaded into the capsule, it is separated from the device and makes its descent and landing in the specified area.
In the period 1989-1993, regular annual launches of the Don were carried out, the average operating time was about 60 days. In the period 1993-2003, only one spacecraft was launched - in 1997, and it worked in orbit twice as long as the previous spacecraft - 126 days. The next launch took place in August 2003. After being put into orbit, the satellite received the designation "Kosmos-2399". The last launch of a satellite of the Don series was carried out on September 14, 2006 under the designation Kosmos-2423.
Manned space stations of the USSR Ministry of Defense
"Almaz" (OPS) - a series of orbital stations developed by TsKBM for the tasks of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The stations were launched into orbit using the Proton launch vehicle. The transport service of the station was supposed both by the TKS spacecraft, developed under the same Almaz program, and previously developed by the Soyuz. The stations for manned operation were named Salyut, adjacent to the civilian DOS stations. A total of 5 Almaz-OPS stations were launched - manned by Salyut-2, Salyut-3, Salyut-5, as well as automatic modifications Kosmos-1870 and Almaz-1.
Orbital Manned Station "Almaz".
Work on the creation of the station began in the mid-60s, during the years of tough confrontation with the United States. The station "Almaz" was developed at OKB-52 under the leadership of V. N. Chelomey to solve the same problems as the American station MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory), which was being developed at that time - to conduct photographic and radio-technical reconnaissance and control from orbit by ground military means, For this purpose, a telescope-camera "Agat-1" was installed at the station, as well as a whole complex of long-focus cameras for imaging the Earth, a total of 14 units.
For protection from satellites-inspectors and interceptors of a potential enemy, as well as in view of the possible use of space shuttles to abduct Soviet DOS (long-term inhabited stations) "Salyut" and OPS (orbital manned stations) "Almaz" from Earth orbit, the latter, as the first stage, was equipped with a modified NR-23 automatic cannon of the Nudelman-Richter design (the Shield-1 system), which later, at the first Almaz station of the second generation, was to be replaced by the Shield-2 system consisting of two missiles of the Shield-1 class. space-space ". (According to some sources, the Shield-2 system, with two space-to-space missiles, was already installed on Salyut-5). The assumption of the "abductions" was based solely on the dimensions of the cargo compartment and the mass of the shuttle payload, which were openly announced by the American developers of the shuttles, which were close to the dimensions and mass of the Almazov.
Initial design of the Almaz station with two TKS descent vehicles
It was planned to transfer to the second generation Almaz station in versions with a second docking station or a return vehicle from the TKS. However, work on the Almaz manned stations was discontinued in 1978. TsKBM continued the development of unmanned OPS stations for the Almaz-T space radar remote sensing system.
The automatic station OPS-4, prepared for launch in 1981, lay in one of the shops of the assembly and test building of the Baikonur cosmodrome for several years due to delays not related to the work on the OPS. On October 19, 1986, an attempt was made to launch this station under the name "Almaz-T", which was unsuccessful due to the failure of the control system of the "Proton" LV.
Section of the station "Almaz"
On July 18, 1987, the automatic version of the Almaz OPS was successfully launched, which received the designation "Cosmos-1870". High-quality satellite radar images of the earth's surface were used in the interests of the defense and economy of the USSR.
On March 31, 1991, a modified automatic version of the OPS with significantly improved characteristics of onboard equipment was launched into orbit under the name "Almaz-1".
The automatic OPS "Almaz-2" with further modification of the on-board equipment was not launched into orbit due to the difficult state of the economy after the collapse of the USSR and the work stoppage.
