*facepalm*
Posted on 11/22/2010 12:24:31 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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( not sure I believe that....)
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A powerful Delta 4 rocket roared to life and climbed away from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Sunday evening on a high-priority mission to boost a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite into orbit.
Under a cloudy sky, the hydrogen-fueled engines in the three common core boosters of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 ignited with a rush of orange fire at 5:58 p.m. EST and quickly throttled up to nearly 2 million pounds of thrust.
Hold-down clamps then released and the huge rocket majestically climbed away from launch complex 37 atop a torrent of fiery exhaust. About 30 seconds later, it knifed into a deck of low clouds and disappeared from view.
Because the NROL-32 payload is classified, United Launch Alliance halted commentary about seven minutes after liftoff, just after the protective nose cone fairing separated and fell away. The vehicle was performing normally at that point, but no other updates were expected.
The payload is believed to be an electronic eavesdropping satellite with a huge collecting antenna. In a September address to the Air Force Association, NRO Director Bruce Carlson said the Delta 4 was carrying "the largest satellite in the world."
"I believe the payload is the fifth in the series of what we call Mentor spacecraft, a.k.a. Advanced Orion," Ted Molczan, a respected satellite tracker, told Spaceflight Now. "They are among the largest satellites ever deployed."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
*facepalm*
If it’s >328 feet wide then it had some type of long boom that unfolded, which means it had a requirement to create a large separation between two or more components. Either to minimize interference with each other or to use interferometry to increase resolution.
No More pat downs needed.
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I think that when in orbit it must deploy a large antenna....maybe like 328 feet wide....that would make sense,.,,,
If we all talk in whispers maybe they won't hear us!
That’s the width of its receiving antenna, which unfolds once it’s in orbit.
I was going to say something...but I lost my train of thought!
Subheadline implies it is that wide going up....
Even though it was cloudy, I got some views of it through the gaps...was very bright. Trajectory was going a lot farther east than other launches I’v seen.
Wow...thanks....
I don't trust The Imam with our national secrets, that's for sure.
how else do you expect Obama to be able to steal ESPN-U so he can sit around the White House watching basketball all day?
Check www.heavens-above.com over the next few days. Go to Select Satellite, Year of launch 2010.
Well....damn...
hadn’t thought of that.
There is no way this thing survives all the space junk screaming by in those orbits. I wonder where they are parking it, over 300 feet is a huge target and there are a lot of tiny piece of crap up there.
The launch and the payload aren’t secret, it’s the data that is classified.
it’s OK. we’re probably just spying on more icebergs:
“Spying on Icebergs Instead of Terrorists? Obama Program Diverts Intelligence Assets to Climate...”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2421892/posts
Possibly Geo-sync orbit?
Many of our satellites are park out there to monitor a certain area. They have no need to cover the entire earth and also at that altitude there would be no junk to hit it, just meteorites and Chinese ASATs.
When in space stateltites often unpack themselves. The solar panels drive out etc etc etc. Small when payload, very large in space.
And usually the systems capabilities.
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