So we don’t build Saturn V’s anymore? Why? Did we forget how?
all the spying on Americans must have overloaded all the other satellites we had.
This is probably another Mentor class satellite and will be put into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the equator.
I believe this will either increase the number of Mentor sats to 6 or it means one has failed and this is a replacement.
The last one that went up was USA-223 and was also lifted by a Delta IV Heavy carrier rocket.
These satellites have antennas that are approximately 350 feet in diameter. The lightweight dish unfolds like a giant umbrella. It does not have to deal with gravity since it is in orbit so the dish can be light and rather flimsy and still work well. It’s handy that such low temperatures are available in orbit because the low-noise front end amps work best at very low temperatures. (just keep the gear in shadow)
The gain of an antenna can be thought of as bringing the transmitter you are receiving closer to you. The gain of these Mentor class sats can be thought of as bringing every point on Earth to within a few feet of the receiver. There is virtually no rf source on Earth that these birds cannot pick up.