NRO APPROVED FOR 

RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

QYE-60556/65 

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THE WHITE HOUSE 

WAS H I NGTON 

November 18, 1965 

Reconnaissance Panel Views on the 

MOL Development Program 

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize views of the 

Reconnaissance Panel on the MOL development program and, in 

particular, the Panel's interpretation of the agreement reached 

between Dr. Hornig and Dr. Brown on August 23, 1965. 

The Panel is convinced that a high resolution 

orbital reconnaissance system is a high priority national 

goal. Although the Panel concurs that the proposed maimed MOL 

can attain such resolution and that the presence of a man on board 

the spacecraft can enhance certain aspects of the mission, the 

Panel concludes that a properly designed unmanned system can, 

in an equivalent time, attain the same resolution with acceptable 

mission reliability. In addition, because of the great significance 

of the data that MOL will obtain, the Panel foresees a future requirement for operational missions on a continuing basis and considers 

it likely that in such an operational program the unmanned system 

will show advantages for the routine missions, and manned system 

for situations which require special capabilities. It therefore believes 

that the MOL development program can and should support an operational program which could use both manned and unmanned versions 

of the system in whatever manner is most consistent with the individual 

mission requirements, the continuing need for economic operations 

and the international situation that may exist at the time. 

The Panel concludes that certain elements of the manned and 

unmanned systems can be common. In particular, the automated 

systems for navigation and control, pointing and focusing, differential IMC over the format and on orbit alignment of the optics should 

be developed both to realize the full potential of the optics during 

unmanned operations and also to enhance the performance of the manned 

system by relieving the man of routine, demanding tasks. The Panel 

observes that a properly planned development program can accommodate 

identicality between major elements of the system (primarily 

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the optics, 

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RELEASE 1 JULY 2015 

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the subsystems mentioned above, the laboratory module and the 

booster) if the requirements of both manned and automated missions 

are fully considered in the initial systems design. 

The Panel recognizes that the automatic film handling and recovery 

systems necessary for an =manned MOL might not be appropriate 

in the manned system and, conversely, that the Gemini spacecraft 

would not be needed during unmanned operation. It is considered 

likely therefore that a package containing multiple film recovery capsules will have to be developed to replace the Gemini for planned unmanned missions. 

The Panel interprets the Hornig-Brown agreement to mean that 

the initial system definition will result in a design consistent with the 

above and that the separate modules and conversion equipment necessary 

for automatic operation will be developed and built concurrently with 

the manned MOL and with a financial and management priority equal 

to that given the manned modules. In connection with the flight demonstration of the unmanned system referred to in the agreement, the 

Panel assumes that a flight test of the complete automatic system, 

including the separately developed equipment, will be included in the 

MOL test program as early as the test program will reasonably allow. 

Although the agreement specified this as 9 months after the first 

manned test - (at the time of the agreement, this period represented 

a compromise between Panel and DOD opinions about when the unmanned 

system could be ready) - it is expected that the Air Force Program 

Definition Studies will define a more appropriate schedule which includes 

both manned and unmanned tests in a sequence which technical considerations show to be equally advantageous to both systems. 

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