Francis J. Madden
Francis J. Madden (Frank Madden) is an American engineer.
At Itek Corporation, he developed and tested the first high-performance cameras for the Corona program of spy satellites in the USA, which were the first such system to operate in the USA from 1959 to 1972. The films were dropped in special capsules that were caught while airplanes were still in the air. The panorama camera had a complex, high-speed (18 inches per second) film transport system and could be controlled remotely. In developing the camera, he used advanced technologies from the film and other industries and worked with the Physical Research Laboratory at Boston University(Walter Levison, later General Manager of the Defense Systems Division at Itek). Richard Leghorn, who led development in the Pentagon and was one of the founders and president of Itek, was also significantly involved. Madden and Levison were also previously responsible for the previous balloon exploration flights on the HYAC camera system. The camera had to be as light as possible and withstand the high loads at take-off. A wide-angle lens was used that moved on a 70 degree arc perpendicular to the direction of movement of the satellite. The lenses kept rotating. From the KH-4 onwards, a Petzval lens with a focal length of 24 inches ( f / 3.5) was used. Madden developed the starwheel mechanism for the temporal coordination of the processes in the camera and eliminated the problems with corona effects that initially existed . He remained the head of Itek's Corona program until his retirement in 1975.
With the camera and the films developed by Eastman Kodak, resolutions of around 10 m were initially achieved, and less than 3 m in the early 1970s. One mission provided recordings of around 27 million square kilometers.
In 2005 he received the Charles Stark Draper Prize , one of the highest technology awards in the USA, for his participation in the Corona project . The award from the National Academy of Engineering emphasized that its camera design is still one of the most advanced space cameras ever produced . In 2000 he became the National Reconnaissance Office's Pioneer of National Reconnaissance . In 1995 he received an award from the CIA for his work at Corona.
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Madden, Francis J. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Madden, Frank |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 20th century |