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National Reconnaissance Office

QUILL Declassification

Guidance

 
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Preface

This document contains general guidelines for the 

protection of National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) equities 

involving the QUILL study. It is meant as a starting point for 

those planning events and publications associated with this 

study. 

All government and contract employees are obligated to 

protect national security information. The NRO’s Prepublication 

Review process is intended to carefully control and monitor the 

release of UNCLASSIFIED NRO information to the public. This 

process, if followed, will minimize the chances of releasing 

information potentially damaging or harmful to national 

security.

Any unclassified material proposed for public release by 

any means, which deals with our organization, its mission or its 

functions, MUST be submitted to the NRO’s Information Access and 

Release Team (IART) for prepublication review processing. 

The Director of the NRO (DNRO) has appointed IART as the 

NRO’s initial 25-Year Release and Denial Authority. Only the 

IART is authorized to review information equities and 25-year 

old NRO records for declassification. NRO encourages you to 

provide the IART with sufficient time to conduct a thorough 

review. To submit your materials for prepublication review, 

please FEDEX them to the address below: 

Via FEDEX:

National Reconnaissance Office

Information Review and Release Team 

14675 Lee Road

Chantilly VA 20151

On an individual basis, The IART will field questions from 

industry partners regarding other releasable information not 

covered in these guidelines. Please call (703)227-9411. 

For those individuals approached by the media for 

interviews regarding QUILL and their association with the study 

or are considering contacting the media themselves, please call 

the NRO Office of Corporate Communication at 703-808-1198. 
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What was QUILL?

Quill was an experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) 

satellite, based on Corona satellite and available SAR hardware, 

which flew in 1964. Because of diplomatic and security concerns 

the brief mission imaged only selected targets within the United 

States. Those targets could be inspected on the ground to 

validate the intelligence value of orbital SAR without alerting 

the Soviets to the capability or touching off diplomatic protest 

over active illumination of sovereign territory. The mission 

provided proof-of-concept.

The following is released: 

1. Release the fact of the Quill experimental synthetic aperture 

radar satellite as the world’s first imaging radar satellite. 

2. Release photographs and drawings of the Quill satellite and 

associated hardware only after Systems Engineering Directorate, 

Imagery Intelligence Systems Acquisitions Directorate, and the 

Office of Security and Counterintelligence have certified that 

the specific image in question offers no substantial assistance 

to potential adversaries and represents no substantial risk to 

currently operational systems. Such certification renders the 

image releasable in the absence of additional concerns.

3. Release the fact that Quill’s synthetic aperture radar 

technology emerged from the work of Louis Cutrona’s team at the 

University of Michigan’s Environmental Research Institute of 

Michigan (ERIM), publicized in 1960 when the U.S. Army released 

images of American cities captured by the airborne AN/UPD-1 SAR 

system. 

4. Release the fact that in the late fall of 1961 Col. William 

G. King, Director, Program A, began examining the possibility of 

launching an experimental proof-of-concept SAR satellite. 

Release fact that King assigned then-Major David D. Bradburn to 

investigate the potential utility and merits of such an 

experiment. 

5. Release the fact that Director of the National Reconnaissance 

Office (DNRO) Joseph V. Charyk approved the proposed proof-ofconcept experiment in mid-November 1962. 

6. Release the fact that the SAR proof-of-concept program was 

identified as “P-40” and that the satellite itself was 

identified as “Quill”. 
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7. Release the fact that Quill used technology from the CORONA

program, including the Agena space vehicle and the physical 

return of data on optical film. 

8. Release the fact of and facts about the optical correlator 

technology which, in the absence of adequate electronic computer 

technology, used optics to process SAR data into useful analog 

images. 

9. Release the fact that P-40 called for the launch of two 

identical Quill vehicles, designated 2355 and 2356, with first 

launch planned for April 1964. Release the fact that a third 

vehicle’s payload was also prepared, with no booster identified 

for it.

10. Release in relation to Quill the fact that original project 

goals included 50-foot resolution in both azimuth and slant 

range; quantitative evaluations of radar system performance, 

including azimuth-direction; limitations imposed by design 

parameters; in-flight performance; vehicle attitude behavior; 

impact of atmospheric conditions; data link design and 

performance; data on target field reflectivity; general 

engineering parameters for aerospace radar system designs used 

or available to the public during the Quill program; and ground 

recording and processing capabilities. 

11. Release the fact that Maj. Bradburn subsequently determined 

that range resolution would not be a significant project goal. 

12. Release the fact that Quill’s SAR unit, designated KP-II, 

was a modified version of the AN/UPQ-102 pulsed-Doppler system 

Goodyear produced for the RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft. Release 

the fact that modifications included removing unnecessary aerial 

or operational system components, such as lateral motion 

compensation and swath modification capabilities, from the 

original design. 

13. Release the fact that the fifteen feet long by two feet wide 

SAR antenna, covered by a protective fairing during launch, was 

flush-mounted on the Agena bus, protruded 2.5 inches from its 

surface, and was fixed at a 55-degree downlook angle. Release 

that three of the four antenna mounts slid along fixed tracks to 

account for thermal stress. 

14. Release the fact that the SAR unit’s klystron used a heat 

sink in the form of an aluminum plate about ten inches long and 
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five inches high, painted with a special thermally conductive 

white paint, with several copper fingers braised to its back. 

The plate bolted to the anode of the klystron, and the copper 

fingers conducted heat to another metal heat sink, placed next 

to the satellite’s skin so the klystron’s heat could radiate 

into space.

15. Release the fact that the experimental mission was intended 

to last only 96 hours, with the radar operating no longer than 

five minutes per orbit, for no more than three orbits in 

succession, and for no more than 80 minutes altogether. Release 

the fact that three silver-zinc batteries provided power, 

without provision for recharging, and so determined the duration 

of the experiment. 

16. Release the fact that Quill employed the same Agena upper 

stage used as a bus for the CORONA imagery satellite. Release 

the fact that Quill launched on an augmented Thor missile, like 

a Corona satellite. Release that this Agena-Thor combination was 

expected to support effective operation of the SAR experiment, 

with an anticipated ±0.4 degrees of attitude uncertainty and 

±0.25 degrees limit cycle in pitch, yaw, and roll, with rates of 

change not greater than .002 degrees/second in pitch, .005 

degrees/second in yaw, and .003 degrees/second in roll. 

17. Release the fact that in Quill’s KP-II radar unit the 

reflections from each signal pulse produced a line on the 

display of a cathode ray tube. The line’s length fluctuated 

according to the intensity of the return. Photographic film 

recorded an image of the display, with varying densities on the 

film corresponding to the varying intensity of the radar 

returns. The film moved across the display to record successive 

intensity trace displays as adjacent positions on the film. 

Engineers anticipated an aspect ratio of roughly 6:9 between 

range and azimuth scales. 

18. Release the fact that ground tests showed the system capable 

of achieving slant range resolution of 25-35 feet. 

19. Release the fact that Quill conveyed radar data to the 

ground in two ways. As in Corona, exposed film went into an Itek 

take-up cassette in a General Electric re-entry vehicle for 

recovery by special Air Force C-130 teams. This approach to data 

recovery had appeared in a 14 October 1958 Aviation Week 

article. The other method employed a UHF wideband data link to 

transmit radar data to recorders at the Vandenberg, California, 

and New Boston, New Hampshire, tracking stations used for 
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Corona. Each station translated the data into a cathode ray tube 

image and recorded it on film, using equipment identical to that 

on the satellite. Preflight engineering analysis considered this 

task simple and straightforward. Each location thus had a 

recorder identical to the one on Quill, together with control 

systems for establishing synchronized reception from the 

satellite. 

20. Release the fact that the product of either method of data 

transmission was a film transparency. This film preserved the 

Doppler-coded return signal from the KP-II radar unit. 

Technicians could convert the preserved analog information into 

visual imagery using a purpose-built device, the Precision 

Optical Processor. Release the unclassified fact that ERIM’s Lou 

Cutrona had developed this technique for processing SAR Doppler 

data in the 1950’s, using analog optics to perform a task beyond 

the capabilities of that era’s digital electronic computers. 

21. Release the fact that the Precision Optical Processor used 

optical lenses to perform fast Fourier transforms. The film 

defracted a laser beam into three emerging waves, two of them 

producing images at focal lengths varying with the SAR data’s 

slant range. An amorphic telescope focused the resulting images, 

which could then be photographed in high resolution to produce 

intelligible imagery. 

22. Release the fact that the complete Quill system filled the 

Agena’s three payload sections: barrel, conical, and nose. The 

KP-II radar system, weighing 370 pounds, went in the barrel 

section, which measured five feet across with structure rings 15 

inches apart and a .06-inch skin. The recorder system, including 

the recorder and the film-supply cassette, weighed approximately 

99 pounds and went in the conical section, which tapered 15 

degrees from a five-foot diameter at its base, where it joined 

the barrel section, through its height of 32.95 inches. The 

reentry capsule, located in the vehicle’s nose cone, protected 

exposed film containing the raw data until it arrived safely 

back on Earth. 

23. Release the security procedures used to transfer CORONA

materiel to Quill. 

24. Release the fact that Quill followed a typical CORONA

mission profile. The Agena vehicle would rotate 180 degrees 

after reaching orbit, flying tail first to facilitate film 

recovery and terrestrial coverage. The antenna would then be 

oriented with the main lobe of the radar pointed 55 degrees 
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below horizontal at a strip that would be 93 miles to the left 

of the satellite’s ground track and 10 nautical miles wide. 

25. Release the Quill program schedule and schedule changes. 

Release the fact that an approaching train threatened the 

scheduled 21 December 1964 launch from Vandenberg Air Force 

Base. Release that the launch occurred at 11:08 am Pacific 

Standard Time. 

26. Release the fact that Quill was identified and registered as 

Satellite 1964 87a. 

27. Release that the Quill mission lasted four days, as planned, 

before battery failure during orbits 72-73. Release that the 

radar operated fourteen times in orbit between 0644 Coordinated 

Universal Time (UTC) 22 December 1964 and 0618 UTC 26 December 

1964, imaging large swaths of the northeastern and western 

United States. 

28. Release orbital ephemeredes and ground traces for the Quill 

mission. 

29. Release the fact that data from the fourteen radar passes 

went to the ground station in view, either Vandenberg or New 

Boston, over a wideband (UHF) data link in real time and that 

the onboard film recording system captured data from the first 

seven radar passes. Release the fact that on 23 December, during 

the 33rd orbit, the satellite jettisoned its reentry capsule for 

a successful recovery. Release the fact that technicians 

developed the film at Westover Air Force Base and dispatched it 

to a facility that ran it through the specially made Precision 

Optical Processor and produced image films. 

30. Release only general descriptions of the ground calibration 

tests.

31. Release the fact that the Quill system achieved azimuth 

resolution of 7.5 feet, the theoretical maximum for the 15-foot 

antenna, surpassing its 10-foot goal. Release the fact that it 

achieved slant range resolution of approximately 80 feet, 

limited by available bandwidth, and had illuminated 

approximately 100,000 square miles, producing useful images of 

nearly 80 percent of the area illuminated. Release the fact that 

approximately 63 percent of the images produced were of the best 

possible quality that the Precision Optical Processor could 

provide; the rest were degraded for radar testing or by slight 

errors in setting the pulse repetition frequency. Release that 
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the Quill system lost only 4 percent of its captured images 

unintentionally.

32. Release the fact that the resulting imagery revealed terrain 

features and human construction, holding promise for strategic 

reconnaissance. Release that weather had minimal affect on image 

quality. 

33. Release the fact that the satellite re-entered the 

atmosphere at 1027 UTC 11 January 1965, on orbit 333. 

34. Release the fact that DNRO Brockway McMillan ordered the 

second Quill vehicle removed from the launch schedule on 5 Jan 

1965 pending full review of the first mission. Release that 

Program A Director Maj. Gen. Robert Greer subsequently 

recommended cancellation of the launch program, having achieved 

its experimental proof-of-concept objectives. The program was 

suspended with DNRO McMillan’s concurrence and substantial 

unexpended funds remaining. The Thor-Agena launch vehicles were 

recycled into the CORONA program, and the radar equipment was 

destroyed. 

35. Release, per their concurrence, the role of mission partners 

Goodyear, General Electric and Lockheed Missile and Space 

Company in the Quill program, including previously acknowledged 

company locations and the names of senior corporate and 

corporate project management staff. 

36. Release [subject to CIA concurrence] the fact that the CIA 

developed Quill security procedures through the Office of 

Special Activities. 

37. Release LMSC (Hiller) in association with QUILL. Hiller 

Helicopter plant, also known as the Advanced Projects 

Integration Facility, or Advanced Projects Facility (APF, or 

simply AP), in Palo Alto, California, served until 1969 as a 

cover in which the CORONA second stage Agena satellites, Itek 

cameras, EKC film, and General Electric reentry capsules were 

assembled and tested before shipment to Vandenberg AFB. 

38. Release AFSSPL was the Laboratory and AFSPPF was the 

proposed processing facility for the film.