0.1 KH-8 GAMBIT-3
After three years of Program 206-type flights with the Atlas Agena D, launches with the Titan IIIB first
stage began in Jul 1966. The Titan IIIB is substantially more powerful than Atlas, and only one object was
cataloged for each flight,
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confirming that the Agena stage remained attached to the payload. The PPS
(photographic payload section) payload was attached to the SCS (satellite control section) Agena by a roll
joint, as on the LANYARD program, allowing the satellite to image off-nadir targets. The combined PPS
and SCS make up the PSV (Photographic Satellite Vehicle). The switch of booster and the upgrade to the
new KH-8 payload are correlated, in contrast to the phasing in of the KH-4B and Thorad booster in the
CORONA program. The aperture of the GAMBIT-3 telescope was 1.10m diameter.
The new program was originally Program 206-II, Program 110, or GAMBIT 3 (G
3
), also referred to
as ’G-Cubed’; in 1967 it became known simply as GAMBIT once the earlier (KH-7) GAMBIT program was
retired, although the G-Cubed name was still used informally [?]. It carried an improved Kodak imaging
system with a fused silica mirror. The initial version had a 4.06m focal length [?]. The final R-5 version,
flown starting in Aug 1971, had a focal length of 4.45m, at f/4.09. The aperture was 1.10m, and ground
resolution is still classified but reported to be better than 0.6m.
The satellite included the APTC (Astro Position Terrain Camera) system with a frame terrain camera
of 0.08m focal length and two stellar mapping cameras, and returned 55m resolution mapping data; this
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Three flights in Jan, Aug and Oct 1971 jettisoned some kind of object into orbit at the end of their missions, possibly
associated with the recovery vehicle.
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