Payload for the NRO? Seems like these vehicles are great for that. Must be a big bird (cough sorry). I mean, satellite for studying the Sun's corona. Because we would never say the KH-11 was as big as a city bus and we're waaaaaay past that one.
2 posted on
08/27/2020 11:01:14 PM PDT by
SaveFerris
(Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
According to Ted Molczan, an authoritative skywatcher who tracks satellite activity:
“This signals intelligence spacecraft is so large, that when seen from Earth, it shines with the brightness of an 8th magnitude star, making it easily visible with small binoculars.”
Before the launch in 2010 of a suspected Advanced Orion satellite, then-director of the NRO Bruce Carlson called the payload the “the largest satellite in the world.” The satellites are believed to carry giant antennas that unfurl to a diameter of up to 100 meters, or 328 feet, once in space.