"Some forty years ago, the U.S. launched a series of secret satellites, designed to spy on the country's adversaries. Launched between March 1971 and February 1987, those satellite missions, nicknamed JUMPSEAT, were declassified by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO and the U.S. Airforce developed the satellites together to boost the U.S. government's space intelligence portfolio, with a view to monitoring adversarial offensive and defensive weapon system development, according to the NRO."
"The first JUMPSEAT mission launched in 1971 from a military base near Santa Barbara, California, and provided information to the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, among other national security bodies. According to a December memo signed by the NRO director Christopher Scolese, the JUMPSEAT satellites performed admirably, but were decommissioned in 2006. Declassifying the missions, he said, would pose little risk to current and future satellite systems. More detailed information about what the satellites did may be coming in future."
Some forty years ago, the U.S. launched a series of secret satellites nicknamed JUMPSEAT to spy on adversaries. The missions launched between March 1971 and February 1987. The NRO and the U.S. Air Force developed the satellites to expand U.S. space intelligence capabilities and monitor adversarial offensive and defensive weapon system development. The first mission launched in 1971 from a military base near Santa Barbara, California, and provided information to the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency. The satellites performed admirably but were decommissioned in 2006. The NRO declassified the missions and said further programmatic declassification may follow as resources permit.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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