Arms control pacts can be verified - includes related article

If U.S. reconnaissance satellites are the Rolls-Royces of space- based espionage, their Soviet counterparts are its Chevrolets. Both do their job more than adequately: the differences between them have to do with their degree of refinement and with sheer numbers.

Overseeing the design and opertions of American spy satellites is the highly secret, CIA-dominated National Reconnaissance Office in the Pentagon. It prefers a relatively small number of hand-made, extremely sophisticated spacecraft that reflect the substantial American lead in optics and high-speed digital computers indispensable for the collection of intelligence from orbit.

The Soviets try to offset superior American technology by modifying their basic spacecraft -- dependable workhorses like Vostok and Soyuz -- on the assembly line to carry either cosmonauts or a wide array of hardware, much of it for reconnaissance. The technique is similar to the way aircraft manufacturers produce passenger and cargo versions of the same plane.

Although the types of Soviet reconnaissance satellites closely match those orbited by the U.S. -- photographic intelligence (PHOTINT), electronic intelligence (ELINT), radar ferreting (SIGINT), and radar ocean reconnaissance (RORSAT) -- the numerical difference is startling. Only two KH-11s carried the photo reconnaissance load for the U.S. in 1985, while the U.S.S.R. sent up 34 camera-carrying spacecraft, which was about average. Furthermore, 64 of the 98 satellites of all kinds launched that year by the Soviets were on some sort of reconnaissance or surveillance mission, often involving electronic snooping or ocean surveillance in addition to picture taking. The KH-11's orbital lifetime is about three years, that of its Soviet counterparts from days to about seven months, depending on how quickly their intelligence cache is needed.

Soyuz spacecraft, which are more than two decades old and whose latest version (named, in a bit of unintended humor, the model T) carried two cosmonauts back from a four-month space station mission last July, have been the mainstay of the Soviet photo reconnaissance program.

The basic Soyuz is made of three parts. As a manned satellite, it's composed of a cylindrical propulsion module, a bell-shaped descent module, and a spherical orbital module through which its occupants crawl when the ship is linked up to another spacecraft. The Soyuz's photo reconnaissance version uses the descent module for its tiny maneuvering rockets and their fuel, the orbital module to hold film canisters and batteries for operating the cameras, and the cylindrical segment to store the high-, medium-, or low-resolution cameras (depending on the mission). The craft, a little more than 23 feet long, is seven feet in diameter, and weighs about seven tons (the KH-11 is 50 feet long, 15 feet wide, and weighs about 29,000 pounds).

When its mission is completed, the orbital module, containing cameras and exposed film, is separated from the other two sections and fired back down toward the Soviet Union, landing under a billowing parachute. Most of the expensive cameras are no doubt re- used. The Soviets have also developed their own electro- optical real-time system, using a variant of the Soyuz without the jettisonable sphere (see diagram). This new breed can remain in orbit for seven months or more, uses charge- coupled devices, and can probably produce images similar to those from the KH-11. Any limitations would come from inferior computers on the ground, not from the quality of its telescope.