Improved CRYSTAL was an optical reconnaisance satellite built for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Prime contractor was thought to be Lockheed. Instruments included a large telescope with visual and near infrared wavelength CCD sensors and the ICMS mapping system.

Total Mass: 26,000 kg.

Improved CRYSTAL was an optical reconnaisance satellite built for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Prime contractor was thought to be Lockheed. Instruments included a large telescope with visual and near infrared wavelength CCD sensors and the ICMS mapping system.

This classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite represented the first successful Titan launch in four attempts. The payload had been reported to be a Lacrosse radar imaging reconnaissance satellite. However the short 50 foot Titan fairing was used instead of the 66 foot fairing used by Lacrosse. This only seems to be used previously for an Improved Crystal photo-reconnaissance satellite in November 1992. The payload therefore could be related to the ocean surveillance triplets, or be an Improved CRYSTAL derivative.

• 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
• 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html