The Corona satellites were taken between 1959 and 1972. The name of this program is “Corona” was a codeword not an acronym. There were 144 Corona satellites launched, of which 102 returned with usable photographs. The images can be used for landscape, environmental change and biodiversity studies.
The Corona satellites used special 70 millimeter film with a 24-inch (610 mm) focal length camera. After the restoration of film strips, the screening for ground control points (GCPs) was launched. The resulting photo mosaic generated by the Interspect Research Group has 2.5 m spatial resolution.
Project manager of image map production: Gábor Bakó
Field team leader: Zsolt Molnár
Leader of the Archive: Eszter Góber
References
Brown, Stewart F.: "America’s First Eyes in Space" Popular Science. February 1996, p. 46.
Lewis, Jonathan E.: Spy Capitalism: Itek and the CIA. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002.
Chun, Clayton K.S.: Thunder Over the Horizon: From V-2 rockets to Ballistic Missiles. Westport: Praeger Security International, 2006
Bakó, G., E. Góber 2014: Georeferencing archive spy satellite images of Hungary.