CORONA REQUIREMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B01709A000600040007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 2003
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 19, 1970
• Content Type: MF

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(S1 NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
19 May 1970
MEMORANDUM FOR CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON IMAGERY
REQUIREMENTS AND EXPLOITATION
SUBJECT: CORONA Requirements
REFERENCES: (a) Memo, Subj: Imagery Reconnaissance Require-
ments, dtd 12 May 1969 w/3 Atchs)
(b) Memo, Subj: Projected CORONA Satisfaction
25X1A of USIB Requirements, FY 1970 and 1971, dtd
14 August 1969 1w/ l Atch)
(c) Draft Memo for USIB, Subj: Modification of
CORONA Requirements, dtd 14 May 1970, w/1 Atch
This memorandum comments on the most recent modification
of the CORONA collection requirements, reference (c), prior to their
submittal to USIB for approval.
It has been noted that most of the NRO suggestions toward
improving the CORONA collection requirements, reference (a), either
have been acted upon by reference (c) and the latest require-
ments, or have been overtaken by events and are no longer pertinent.
Accordingly, the following comments concerning reference (c) are
provided:
a. The NRO recommends deletion of the 2.5-million-
square-nautical-mile requirement, paragraph 5c. This requirement
is covered by paragraph 6 which addresses mission-to-mission require-
ments without a limitation of assignment of film. Since the 2. 5 million-
mile requirement is not geographically defined, except as being outside
the Bloc, there is no way of distinguishing between this requirement and
the mission-to-mission, one-time current intelligence requirement.
NRO review(s) completed.
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b. Since there is a fixed number of CORONA systems
left in the program, a no-film-limit, mission-by-mission stated
requirement (paragraph 6) does not present a system sizing or procure-
ment problem. However, unless it is closely monitored, this kind of
requirement can seriously impact satisfying the standing USIB search
requirements.
Reference (b) provides projected search requirements
satisfaction levels based on a reduced CORONA launch rate and assumed
20 percent and 40 percent film allocations for mission-to-mission surveil-
lance requirements. The 20 percent figure was based upon historical
records prior to 1969. However, in 1969 this average rose to 30 percent
for the year, excluding Missions 1050 and 1051. The first 1970 mission,
Mission 1109, consumed approximately 35 percent of the film for one-
time requirements, including the Middle East.
c. The map attachment to reference (c) has technical
errors. North Vietnam has been omitted. Mongolia was not previously
a requirement; therefore, the area depicted in red has been added as a
semiannual search requirement and the area in white has been added as
an annual search requirement.
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Assistant Deputy Director
Satellite Operations Center
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14 August 1969 rJ a
IvIEMORANDUM FOR CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON IMAGERY
REQUIREMENTS AND EXPLOITATION
REFERENCES: (a) USIB_ D-41. 15/79 (COMOR D-48/115, dated
16 Sept 1966), approved 8 Nov 1966
SUBJECT: Projected CORONA Satisfaction of USIB
FY 1970 and 1971
(b) USIB D-46.4/27 (COMIREX D-13.16/3,
4 Feb 1969), approved 27 Feb 1969
(c) USIB D-46.9/19 (COMIREX D-16.2/1, dated
11 Apr 1969), noted 23 Apr 1969
CORONA photography.
Projections of expected CORONA satisfaction of USIB requirements
for FY 1970 and FY 1971 are presented and explained in the attachment
to this memorandum. It is the result blending the findings of studies
independently performed by CIA/OSP and in-house by the
This analysis is operationally oriented and shows the trade-offs
available by flying STB or UTB at varying altitudes under three opera-
tional philosophies. The subject of reduced resolution with increasing
alt tude is absent from this paper, since its effect on intelligence content
is best answered by those representing the consumers who exploit
Deputy Director for
Satellite Operations
Attachment
rojected CORONA Satisfaction Levels
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PROJECTED CORONA SATISFACTION LEVELS
FIVE MISSIONS PER YEAR
Problem.
This analysis addresses the problem of satisfying USIB require-
ments for CORONA under the dual handicaps of a launch rate reduction
to five per year during fiscal years 1970 and 1971 and the possibility
that ultra-thin-base (UTB) film will not become flight-qualified in the
CORONA payload.
Background.
The expected satisfaction levels generated by this analysis are
an amalgamation of the results of three separate studies, two performed
by CIA/OSP and the third by NRO/SOC.
The first CIA/OSP study is an October 1968 computer simulation
wherein climatology was applied to each access of the search areas to
provide an expected search satisfaction level for any desired number of
days on orbit per period without regard to the amount of film available.
The second CIA/OSP study is a July 1969 parametric analysis of
CORONA history which, under varying conditions of film type and
perigee altitude, presents the expected semiannual search satisfaction
in terms of the portion of each year's film which is expended against
that requirement.
The INTRO/SOC study was presented to the DNRO in late May 1969
and is a mission-oriented approach, also based on CORONA history,
r. which each of the remaining CORONA payloads was flight-planned
under various flight conditions in as real-life a manner as possible.
Seasonally adjusted climatology in terms of probability of 90-100 per-
cent cloud-free CORONA photography was employed, as was the inter-
reaction of the five basic CORONA requirements in their demand for
each mission's film.
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Each of the studies provide some measure of expected CORONA
performance not available from the other two, yet each generally agree
on the semiannual search satisfaction level which can be expected.
Thus, the following presents the combined data and shows the trade-
offs between the various requirements which are available during a
five-mission year.
A note of caution is required in interpreting the average semi-
annual search satisfaction projections presented here. They are
based on as many as nine years of daily weather observations in the
Communist countries, but this is no guarantee that a mission launched
this November will actually encounter the weather which history says
should be expected. The semiannual search satisfactions are expressed
in terms of annual averages and the tolerance limits or confidence
level attendant to those satisfactions are about plus or minus 7 percent,
mainly due to the vagaries of weather. For example, a prediction of
67 percent average semiannual search satisfaction for UTB missions
flown at 85-nautical-mile perigees means that some average satisfaction
within the range of 60 percent to 74 percent can confidently be expected.
Additionally, CORONA history also demonstrates that the monthly
satisfaction levels for semiannual search will fluctuate within about plus
or minus 15 percent of the average level for that year.
Unusual and unpredictable requirements such as those levied
against Mission 1051 in May of this year will also significantly affect
satisfaction levels projected into the future.
Expected Satisfaction.
The USIB requirements for CORONA are well established and
have been recently reviewed and confirmed. The difficulty of satisfying
the five specific CORONA requirements is reviewed in the following
paragraphs, being treated in light of the present stage of the 6-year-old
CORONA program. They are considered in the order of increasing
difficulty to satisfy.
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a. Mapping, Charting and Geodesy.
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Over 75 percent of the coverage requirement for the
primary instrument has been satisfied and the remainder is in climato-
logically unfavorable areas. MC &G photography will, under any launch
rate or altitude condition, be attempted on every occasion that favor-
able weather is forecasted, and the small amount of film thus expended
will have no appreciable effect on the satisfaction levels of the other
CORONA requirements.
b. High-Priority Areas for One-Time Search and
Surveillance.
Film expenditures against the high-priority areas (HPA's)
and targets assigned by the ICRS on a mission-by-mission basis have,
over the past 2 years, averaged 20 percent of each mission's film.
Projections of CORONA satisfaction recently presented to the COMIREX,
the DNRO, and the Executive Committee have employed the basic assump-
tion that the current intelligence and special search and surveillance
needs expressed by each mission's high-priority list will continue to be
an important part of CORONA tasking and, thus, in the nominal cases
presented, 20 percent of each future mission's film has been reserved
for this purpose.
A trade-off is available between HPA usage and[the most
difficult to satisfy requirement fort semiannual search. If no film were
allocated for HPA's and the 20 percent thus"saved" were expended against'
the semiannual search areas, an increase of about 5 percent in average
semiannual search satisfaction could be expected. This holds true for
any combination of UTB/STB films at perigee altitudes from 85 to 100
nautical miles in a five-mission year. An opposite trade-off, that of
increasing the emphasis on HPA's to 40 percent of each mission's film,
would result in lowering expected semiannual search satisfaction by
about 10 percent.
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c. Outside-the-Bloc Annual Search.
The outside-the-Bloc requirement for 2. 5 million square
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nautical miles of cloud-free photography annually can be met with UTB
film at any perigee under consideration and with STB film aboard a 100-
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Bloc if semiannual search coverage is to be protected, and that can
only be obtained during the summer mission(s) when in-Bloc clima-
tology is poor and relatively few good weather accesses are available
in the search areas.
one million square nautical miles of cloud-free coverage outside-the
A trade-off is available here also in that the outside-
the-Bloc coverage can be suppressed in order to provide Lam- increase
of about 6 percent in average semiannual search satisfaction.
STB film at 85 nautical miles will provide only about
d. In-Bloc Annual Search.
herein. The extreme measure of completely ignoring the annual search
requirement and applying that film to semiannual search would only
improve its satisfaction by about 5 or 6 percent.
The annual search requirement of 75 percent per year
can be satisfied under any film and perigee combination considered
e. In-Bloc Semiannual Search.
Semiannual search is the CORONA requirement most
difficult to satisfy and is also the most sensitive to a reduction in gross
ground coverage capability- -this capability is directly influenced by a
reduced launch rate, the UTB film question, and perigee altitude.
Historically, CORONA satisfaction of this requirement
has been in the range between 60 and 70 percent more often than it has
been at any level outside that band. The average satisfaction in FY 68
was 64 percent and in FY 69 it was 71 percent. Two months during the
past two years saw the 80 percent requirement level met or surpassed
and both were directly attributable to the serendipitous Mission 1106 in
February 1969.
The semiannual search satisfaction which can be expected
from a five-mission year will vary with the operational philosophy
employed to best satisfy the basic USIB requirements for CORONA and
the mission-to-mission guidance which is received. Previous projections
were based on the conditions that:
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