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Samos
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Class: Surveillance. Type: Military. Destination: Surveillance Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: U.S. Air Force. First generation photo surveillance; return of camera and film by capsule; program still partially classified, evidently due to embarrassment. Samos satellites carried one of four payloads:
- E-1 frame readout camera with 1.83 m focal length, 30 m ground resolution, and 161 km x 161 km frame coverage;
- E-2 frame readout camera with 0.91 m focal length, 6 m ground resolution, and 27 km x 27 km frame coverage;
- E-5 recoverable panoramic camera with 1.67 m focal length, 1.5 m ground resolution, and 98 km swath length;
- E-6 recoverable panoramic camera with 0.7 m focal length, 2.4 m ground resolution, and 280 km swath width.
None of the satellite versions worked particularly well, in contrast to the success the CIA was having at the same time with its Corona project. SAMOS was quietly wound up without ever having produced any significant results. Typical orbit: 229 x 354 km, 94.6 deg inclinaton. Mass: 1,900 kg (4,100 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Atlas LV-3A / Agena A, Atlas LV-3A / Agena B.
Samos Chronology
- 1961 December 22 - Samos 5 - Launch Site: Point Arguello. Launch Vehicle: Atlas LV-3A / Agena B. Mass: 1,860 kg (4,100 lb). Perigee: 187 km (116 mi). Apogee: 310 km (190 mi). Inclination: 89.60 deg. Period: 89.40 min.
First generation photo surveillance; return of camera and film by capsule; SAMOS type satellite. Reached orbit but failed to deorbit and be recovered. In his memoirs Sergei Khrushchev recounts recovery of what he believed to be a recoverable Samos, except the date given is the winter before tests of this configuration actually started. He relates that a second American capsule was recovered in the spring of 1961. It was equipped with a 30 cm lens and 100’s of metres of 10 cm wide film. Also recovered were a pear-shaped module made of fibreglass, and an inertial orientation system powered by electric motors. It may have been a SAMOS prototype. The capsule was found by tractor drivers, who disassembled it and used the film to wrap around the frame of their outhouse to provide some privacy in the treeless area. Unfortunately this ruined the film, preventing the Russians from developing it and discovering the technical capabilities of the system.
Bibliography and Further Reading - McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- Bramscher, Robert G, Spaceflight, "A Survey of Launch Vehicle Failures", 1980, Volume 22, page 351.
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