EROS SATELITE PLAN AWAITS APPROVAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B04767A000300040028-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2001
• Sequence Number: 28
• Content Type: NSPR

Eros Safelliie Plan A faits Approval
Washington-Interior Dept.,'s entry last week into the satellite field Is based on
assumptions that include finances, spacecraft experiments and launch vehicle,
all of which are still to be approved.
Eros, the acronym for earth resources observation satellite, is designed to
study global resources for the department's U.S. Geological Survey. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's Office of Space Science and Applica-
tions has advised the Survey on methods of establishing a satellite system,
but there was some surprise among NASA officials at the timing and ambition
of the project.
The Survey hopes that industry can design a 300-lb.-class satellite to be
launched on a Thor-Delta vehicle Into a nearly polar, sub?synchronous orbit
from the Western Test Range.
Two satellites probably will be built, one a backup, although the Survey
hopes to orbit more if Its plans are successful. Initial satellite would carry only
a television system to transmit data on water and vegetation, and later space-
craft would provide more detailed instrumentation Including infrared sensors.
Project cost was placed at about $20 million, and a launch date was set for
1969. Survey officials, however, acknowledged ' privately that $20 million
probably was too little, and that 1969 probably was too optimistic.
They said that tentative plans are to Issue requests for proposals to
industry for definitive studies of the system within three months, but added
that funds for the project had yet to be approved by the Budget Bureau.
NASA officials also said that a launch vehicle was not available and that the
schedule did not seem realistic.
Among the areas to be Investigated by Eros when It Is flown are carto-
graphy, environmental geology and mineral resources, hydrology and geog-
raphy.
Declass. Review by Nima / DoD
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 I ligli-Resolution Camera Proposed for Eros
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RCA,ddvice, for which 3,500-line TV capability is claimed, 45 photographs. The on-board tap-'
would be multipurpose sensing system for resources satellite recorder would hold 30 min. of film.
T
Washington-High-resolution camera de-
veloped by the Radio Corp. of America
is being proposed by RCA as a multi-
purpose sensing system for the Earth
Resources Observation Satellite (Eros)
announced by the Interior Dept.
RCA's Astro-Electronics Div. at
Princeton, N. J., has developed and is
testing the new camera, which it claims
has a resolution capability of more than
3,500 television lines in laboratory tests.
That compares to a commercial tele-
vision capability of about 525 scan lines.
The Interior Dept.'s U.S. Geological
Survey wants to use the Eros in sun-
synchronous, nearly polar orbit to
photograph the entire earth as a means
of compiling data on natural resources
(Aw&ST Sept. 26, p. 27). The project has
yet to be formally funded, although offi-
cials have put a $20-million cost on their
plans and have set a 1969 launch.
Launch would be on a Thor Delta
vehicle from the Western Test Range.
RCA's satellite television system is
compatible with the Eros, according to
program officials at Princeton. They said
the TV camera is a logical extension of
work by the division that includes sen-
sors for Tiros, Nimbus, Lunar Orbiter
and military applications.
The RCA advanced high-resolution
system now weighs 700 lb. and has a
growth capability of about 200 lb, more,
to make use of the Thor Delta's weight-
lifting capacity.
The system has not been flight-tested
as a unit, although similar high-resolu-
tion capabilities are known to be used on
Air Force satellites. Company officials
refused to discuss the relationships be-
tween their military work and the Eros
high-resolution camera they have pro-
posed, but the Interior Dept. is said to
be ready to sacrifice some potentially
higher resolution to avoid-political diffi-
culties with other countries.
As a result, ground resolution will not
be as great as the RCA camera's sug-
gested capabilities although such other
potential users as the Agency for Inter-
national Development (AID) have ex-
pressed :interest in using data from the
Eros to support programs of helping
agricultural production overseas.
The RCA system would:
^ Provide an earth-pointing, three-axis
stabilized satellite using an inertial wheel
similar to the Tiros.
^ Have a one-year lifetime during
which photography could be carefully
programed and controlled from the
ground for selective photography of ter-
rain below on any particular pass.
^ Provide more than one camera, for
muitispectral capability and redundancy.
^ Have on-board tape recorders to
store data and dump information over
established ground receiving stations to
avoid the need for a new system.
^ Use solar cell power, from paddles
similar to those of Lunar Orbiter.
RCA's photo coverage plan allows for
10% overlap on each picture sequence.
A single area can be completely covered
and then rephotographed every 17 days.
Eros will make 15 revolutions daily,
during which its system would record
he capability or turning the cameras
on and off from the ground during non-
essential periods permits the recorders',
to dump data and be readied for another.
photographic pass.
In laboratory tests, RCA engineers;
took photographs made from space and'
from aircraft and placed positive trans-
parencies on a light box. They photo
graphed the positive transparencies with.
the TV camera and displayed the pictures
on a high-resolution kinescope from
which they made slides showing 2,500,
scan lines of resolution.
Continued testing has convinced the
engineers, they said, that 3,500 lines
could be reproduced.
Natural resources satellite proposed by Radio Corp. of American would use solar
panels for power, although the number of panels may not be four, as shown in this
artist's concept. Configuration illustrated here is based on Tiros hardware, with
panels similar to those on the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. RCA's Astro-Electronics Div.
says that It could build this satellite for the Interior Dept.'s U. S. Geological Survey
in two years,'once the earth resources observation satellite program is funded.
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