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Only because they thought they were going to be deploying pre-KH11 satellites that needed film/equipment retrieval/renewal.
by NikkiA 3y ago
Only because they thought they were going to be deploying pre-KH11 satellites that needed film/equipment retrieval/renewal.
- wkat4242 3y agoI thought it was more to actually launch the newer keyholes and to bring them back in case of repair. After all one of those cost as much as an aircraft carrier, you don't want to scrap one for a minor problem.
- NikkiA 3y agoKH-11 was cheaper than KH-9 by far ($3B vs $16B inflation adjusted, both for 20 satellites), each KH-9 had 4 re-entry vehicles, so you could only really do 4 passes per satellite before needing a new one (or some way to replace the module that housed the RVs). It's likely that 'we might need to bring them back...' was justification for USAF remaining as a voice in the shuttle program after KH-11 rendered the satellite fleet reusable, though.