USGS EROS Archive - Declassified Data - Declassified Satellite Imagery - 3 Active

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Sources/Usage: Public Domain.

The Keyhole (KH) satellite system KH-9 (Project Name = Hexagon) operated between 1971 and 1984. The imagery generated are of historical interest and are expected to support current scientific research on climate change and related fields of inquiry. Almost all of the imagery from these cameras were declassified in 2011 as a continuation of Executive Order 12951, the same order that declassified CORONA (Declass-1). This third phase of 14,000 declassified rolls (over 670,000 scenes) were transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in 2019.  The process to ingest and generate browse imagery for Declass-3 is ongoing.  Declass-3 imagery will be available from EarthExplorer after browse imagery are generated and data is ingested..  Please check the coverage map in EarthExplorer to verify the extent of coverage for Declass-3 images available from EROS

KH-9 acquired photographs of the Earth’s surface with a telescopic camera system and transported the exposed film through the use of recovery capsules. The capsules, or buckets, were de-orbited and retrieved by aircraft while the capsules parachuted to earth. The exposed film rolls were processed, and the images were analyzed for a range of military and mapping applications.

The KH-9 program was designed to support mapping requirements and exact positioning of geographical points for the military. The KH-9 panoramic cameras captured high resolution (2-4 feet) and moderate resolution (20-30 feet) terrain images. High resolution images were acquired on 6.5 inch wide variable length film. The moderate resolution terrain camera acquired images that were printed to 9 inch wide variable length film.  The USGS/EROS copy of Declass-3 scenes is primarily black & white duplicates of the original film.  The full collection of original film sources are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Digital Products – High Resolution Scanned Images $30.00 per scene

High performance photogrammetric film scanners are used to create digital products at 7-micron (3,600 dpi) or 14 micron (1,800 dpi) resolution for black-and-white (B/W) images. Color images are limited to 14 micron due to resulting file size. On-demand scanning is available for $30.00 per scene for the subset of duplicate film sources held in the USGS EROS archive.

Declass 3 Image Parameters

* USGS EROS scans products in overlapping sections and the number of files will vary based on the length of the image. The actual file size may fluctuate due to image data, surrounding metadata, and the addition of the USGS logo.

High Resolution Digital Products are of photogrammetric quality and files are stored in TIFF format. The scanning process does not apply geocorrections.

KH-9 missions

Imagery acquired by the KH-9 mapping camera with a resolution of 20-30 feet were released as part of the Declassified Satellite Imagery 2 collection.

Coverage Maps

Coverage Maps indicating the availability of Declass 3 products are available for download.

• Download shapefile 
• Download kml

Additional Information

• 2002 NARA Press Release
• Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs Fact Sheet
• NASA Spaceflight.com

Access Data

EarthExplorer can be used to search, preview, and download existing digital copies of Declass 3 data. For all other imagery, an order will need to be placed to scan the film at $30 per frame. The collection is located under the Declassified Data category.

Mathematical calculations based on camera operation and satellite path were used to approximate geographic location. Since the accuracy of the coordinates varies according to the precision of source information, users should inspect the preview image to verify that the area of interest is contained in the selected frame.

Since National Archive and Records Administration (NARA) has the full set of original film, copies can be ordered directly through businesses that offer information and support services 

• National Archive Records and Administration (NARA) 
• National Air Survey Center Corporation (NASCC)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Declassified Satellite Imagery - 3 Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number: /10.5066/F7WD3Z10