The United States has another eye in the sky.
The NROL-42 spy satellite lifted off from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning (Sept. 24) at 1:49 a.m. EDT (0549 GMT; 10:49 p.m. Sept. 23 local California time), streaking skyward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
NROL-42 is the latest addition to the fleet of spacecraft built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). NRO satellite missions are classified, so it's unclear what orbit NROL-42 will occupy, or what exactly the craft will be doing as it zooms around Earth. [ The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever ]
"This launch is the culmination of many months of work by United Launch Alliance, the National Reconnaissance Office and the 30th Space Wing," Air Force Col. Gregory Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander at Vandenberg, said in a prelaunch statement . "All of Team Vandenberg is dedicated to mission success and proud to play a part in delivering these capabilities to our nation."
Credit: ULA
Today's liftoff marked the 15th time that an Atlas V lofted an NRO satellite. United Launch Alliance — a joint effort of aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing — now has a total of 25 NRO missions under its belt, all of them successes. (The other 10 involved Delta IV and Delta II rockets.)
The Atlas V has now flown 73 times since its 2002 debut and has not suffered a single mission failure. Notable payloads launched by the rocket include NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, the New Horizons spacecraft and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling probe, as well as the U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane. (The first four X-37B missions employed Atlas V rockets, though the fifth, which launched earlier this month , reached orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster.)
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Great, informative article, Matti. Thank you for sharing it with us. Like others, I have to wonder who they are spying on. Yet, some is useful when there are so many covert and terrorist groups in the world today. Spy from the atmosphere is become almost common place these days, but, the difference in how the projects are carried out can be interesting.
Another good article Matti,
My concern with spy satellites is who are they spying on...
Keep the science info coming. I know not many will bother to read it, politics is what most piss and moan over, but this type of article sure helps those of us that have a wider range of interests to enjoy NT.
Imagine the heads exploding if they learned that things like this is possible because of Operation Paperclip.
I'm sure their heads would explode if they realized that a bunch of Nazi's were living in the U.S. and never faced the consequences of their actions.
And working for the government.
I wonder how many of them drive Volkswagens.
I'm sure that they drove MBZ not the peoples wagon.