onboard memory disks. In addition, the Pentagon started launching into geostationary orbit the big data-relay satellites, so the spy spacecraft in low orbits could
immediately send the images to them for a real-time broadcast to Earth.
12
Today,
all the modern georeferencing and mapping applications that usually run-on
smartphones and PC’s derive from those technological developments.
The US armed forces also used satellite and aerial photogrammetry to improve
the accuracy of their ballistic missiles, thereby reducing both the weight and
power of the nuclear warhead
13
and decreasing the total number of ICBM’s from
10,000 to 1,000. This would have at least decreased the number of lethal weapons
that had to be installed over US territory.
The mutual deterrence tactics pushed forward by space-based imagery capabilities eventually forced America and Russia to seek a political détente.
14
In 1972,
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements for the mutual reduction
of arsenals were signed.
Spying from space has been an important foreign policy tool beyond US-USSR
conflicts, and there have been many events – mostly unknown to the public –
where satellite imagery has been fundamental to take crucial political decisions.
In the late sixties, the Chinese had frequent military clashes with the Soviets in
large border areas and tried unsuccessfully for years to buy satellite photos from
the US to monitor the Russians. In the seventies, Washington finally changed
strategy and Secretary of State Henri Kissinger engaged in secret talks with
Chinese counterparts. During President Nixon’s first historic visit to Beijing in
1972, an agreement was signed that would supply US satellite images
15
to China.
During the 20-day Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in 1973, the Russian spy
satellites detected the movements of Israeli troops towards Suez and informed the
Egyptians that they would soon be attacked. All Arab states reacted, to the point
that Tel Aviv activated its battery of nuke missiles. The conflict was avoided only
thanks to secret talks between Nixon and Brezhnev, who both had satellite imagery able to provide the real picture of the situation from space. They helped direct
Israel and Egypt towards a political détente, avoiding a devastating first nuclear
strike in the Middle East.
On October 7, 1985, an Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro, was hijacked off the
coast of Egypt by a Palestinian Liberation Front commando, who killed an
American citizen onboard. A few hours later, officials from the US embassy in
Rome brought to Italian Minister of Defense Giovanni Spadolini photos of the
12
Peebles, Curtis. 1997. The Corona project: America’s first spy satellites. Annapolis, MD:
Naval Institute Press.
13
Heefner, Gretchen. 2014. The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/salt.
15
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/notes.htm.
36 Beyond the Movies: The Real War for Space We Never Saw on Screen
immediately send the images to them for a real-time broadcast to Earth.
12
Today,
all the modern georeferencing and mapping applications that usually run-on
smartphones and PC’s derive from those technological developments.
The US armed forces also used satellite and aerial photogrammetry to improve
the accuracy of their ballistic missiles, thereby reducing both the weight and
power of the nuclear warhead
13
and decreasing the total number of ICBM’s from
10,000 to 1,000. This would have at least decreased the number of lethal weapons
that had to be installed over US territory.
The mutual deterrence tactics pushed forward by space-based imagery capabilities eventually forced America and Russia to seek a political détente.
14
In 1972,
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements for the mutual reduction
of arsenals were signed.
Spying from space has been an important foreign policy tool beyond US-USSR
conflicts, and there have been many events – mostly unknown to the public –
where satellite imagery has been fundamental to take crucial political decisions.
In the late sixties, the Chinese had frequent military clashes with the Soviets in
large border areas and tried unsuccessfully for years to buy satellite photos from
the US to monitor the Russians. In the seventies, Washington finally changed
strategy and Secretary of State Henri Kissinger engaged in secret talks with
Chinese counterparts. During President Nixon’s first historic visit to Beijing in
1972, an agreement was signed that would supply US satellite images
15
to China.
During the 20-day Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in 1973, the Russian spy
satellites detected the movements of Israeli troops towards Suez and informed the
Egyptians that they would soon be attacked. All Arab states reacted, to the point
that Tel Aviv activated its battery of nuke missiles. The conflict was avoided only
thanks to secret talks between Nixon and Brezhnev, who both had satellite imagery able to provide the real picture of the situation from space. They helped direct
Israel and Egypt towards a political détente, avoiding a devastating first nuclear
strike in the Middle East.
On October 7, 1985, an Italian cruise ship, Achille Lauro, was hijacked off the
coast of Egypt by a Palestinian Liberation Front commando, who killed an
American citizen onboard. A few hours later, officials from the US embassy in
Rome brought to Italian Minister of Defense Giovanni Spadolini photos of the
12
Peebles, Curtis. 1997. The Corona project: America’s first spy satellites. Annapolis, MD:
Naval Institute Press.
13
Heefner, Gretchen. 2014. The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/salt.
15
http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/notes.htm.
36 Beyond the Movies: The Real War for Space We Never Saw on Screen