
The Plot to Steal Soviet Planetary Data - artsandsci
http://astronomy.com/bonus/secret
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tzs
> Over the years, CIA analysts became increasingly confident in the purpose of
> this final, hidden signal: that it was used to send detailed scientific and
> imaging data from probes and other craft. Although the fact that this
> information was being hidden from the Americans annoyed them, the data
> itself wasn’t at all vital for American interests, or even that useful for
> American cosmologists and other space researchers.

The data itself might not be valuable, but being first to have it could be
valuable for propaganda purposes. Perhaps the Soviets wanted to avoid a repeat
of what happened with Luna 9.

Luna 9 was the first probe to survive landing on the moon and send back
images. Their plan was to release these images to the world press with much
fanfare, emphasizing how it was their superior science and engineering that
allowed for this.

Unfortunately for them, Luna 9 landed and started transmitting at a time when
the moon was not visible to the Soviet monitoring stations. It was visible
from Jodrell Bank in England, though, and the English were listening. The
public affairs officer at Jodrell Bank had earlier worked in the newspaper
paper industry, and noted that the transmission sounded like the early FAX
machines that the papers used. The observatory called the Daily Express to ask
for help, and the Daily Express sent their FAX machine over. The Luna 9
transmission was put through it, and it worked! They got images from the moon.

The Daily Express got the story out, with the images. The Soviets were not
pleased that the first look they got at their own probe's moon images was in
an English newspaper, and getting scooped meant that the West got to set the
tone of the conversation, so it focused on the the science, not on the
superiority of Soviet science and engineering.

~~~
JorgeGT
The front page of the Daily Express that day, for those curious:
[http://proftimobrien.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/12/Luna9-Da...](http://proftimobrien.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/12/Luna9-DailyExpress.jpg)

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dethswatch
Does the article never give us the actual frequency? Just vaguely 5.08?

Maybe I missed it?

~~~
Luc
The source document doesn't mention it:
[http://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/NSA-
TheLongestSearch.pd...](http://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/NSA-
TheLongestSearch.pdf)

However, this site spells it all out: "Radio systems of Soviet Mars and Venus
probes"
[http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/radioind/MVradio/MVradio.htm](http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/radioind/MVradio/MVradio.htm)

~~~
joe_the_user
Ah,

The whole article is based on this document, which about as informative as a
series of photographs taken as Roswell ... with the lens cap on.

~~~
ge96
Just gotta figure out what blur they used and reverse it, Gaussian at 30
degrees.

