CAPE CANAVERAL — The covert follow-on satellite program that will serve as a replacement to the nation’s surveillance “eyes” from space begins launching in 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The NRO develops and operates the country’s fleet of spy satellites, and the upcoming NROL-71 will take the next step in fielding electro-optical imaging craft.
The sophisticated bird will continue a long line of Keyhole-type spacecraft that provide ultra-high resolution imagery for the U.S. intelligence community, according to hobbyists who track orbiting satellites with remarkable precision.
The telescope-like Keyhole satellites circle the planet in elliptical polar orbits and collect pictures for U.S. national security uses. Lockheed Martin is the long-running marker of such optical satellites.
Experts believe the primary mirror is 2.4 meters in diameter, identical to the mirror size inside the Hubble Space Telescope, which Lockheed Martin derived from the KH-11 spy satellites.
All this time I thought California ...1072
EH CA. Relevant soon. Q