US Launches Largest Spy Satellite Ever

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Space.com reports that over the weekend, a giant booster – a Delta 4 Heavy rocket — carrying a secret new spy satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office roared into space to deliver into orbit what one reconnaissance official has touted as 'the largest satellite in the world.' The Delta 4 Heavy rocket is the biggest unmanned rocket currently in service and has 2 million pounds of thrust, capable of launching payloads of up to 24 tons to low-Earth orbit and 11 tons toward the geosynchronous orbits used by communications satellites. The mammoth vehicle is created by taking three Common Booster Cores — the liquid hydrogen-fueled motor that forms a Delta 4-Medium's first stage — and strapping them together to form a triple-barrel rocket, and then adding an upper stage. The exact purpose of the new spy satellite NROL-32 is secret, but is widely believed to be an essential eavesdropping spacecraft that requires the powerful lift provided by the Delta 4-Heavy to reach its listening post. 'I believe the payload is the fifth in the series of what we call Mentor spacecraft, a.k.a. Advanced Orion, which gather signals intelligence from inclined geosynchronous orbits,' says Ted Molczan, a respected sky-watcher who keeps tabs on orbiting spacecraft. Earlier models of the series included an unfurling dish structure about 255 feet in diameter with a total spacecraft mass of about 5,953.5 pounds, costing about $750 million and designed to monitor specific points or objects of interest such as ballistic missile flight test telemetry."

Comments

We launched a larger one EONS ago.

[dmomo]

That's no Moon.

Re:We launched a larger one EONS ago.

[davester666]

...that's my stash of CHEESE!

Re:We launched a larger one EONS ago.

[Anonymous Coward]

It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

Re:We launched a larger one EONS ago.

[MonsterTrimble]

Article Posted by Soulskill on Monday November 22, @01:33PM.
Death Star quote posted by dmomo on Monday November 22, @01:35PM.

Two minutes? We're slipping.

Re:We launched a larger one EONS ago.

[grcumb]

No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

Apocryphal story, but worth telling:

Back in the 1800s, a dignitary once asked a prominent Huron chief, "Do you know why the sun never sets on the British Empire?"

The chief thought for a moment, then replied, "Because God doesn't trust your Queen in the dark."

Oops

[rakuen]

The new secret spy satellite isn't much of a secret anymore...

Re:Oops

[LWATCDR]

Well it is hard to keep something 300 meters across in space a secret. Simple truth is that just about everybody that cared knew what type of satellite it was from the launch point and the launch vehicle. A friend of mine works on the Centaur and I saw him on Sunday. I asked how work was and he told me about the upcoming launch.
It went like this.
"Yeah it is going up on a Delta 4 heavy."
"Really DOD?"
"No NRO".

If it is a Delta 4 heavy with a Centaur from the Cape you can bet money it is a sigint bird.
The capabilities are what is secret. But it can probably pick up a cell phone or wifi for geosync.

Re:Oops

[Idiomatick]

Even more confusing is why they are bragging that it is big. It is a piece of electronics!

That be like a programmer bragging "I made a printer driver that was 4 GIGS, biggest print driver EVER!". Seriously, bragging about the size is retarded. Then they go on to brag at how awesome of a launch system they needed just to get it into space. Something like "The driver was so bloated people had to buy new computers just to install the driver!"

On a related note, the city of Tokyo is REALLY big. It is such a big spy satellite that we currently have no launch vehicle remotely near being able to lift all of Tokyo into space! It weighs trillions of tons and completely dwarfs the American built satellite. It even has a few million occupants! Amazing compared to the drab unmanned spy satellite that the US has.

Re:Oops

[grcumb]

That be like a programmer bragging "I made a printer driver that was 4 GIGS, biggest print driver EVER!".

A 4 Gigabyte printer driver? Really? Please have your friend contact me immediately!

Snidely Earnest
HR Manager
- Hewlett Packard

Re:Oops

[rtb61]

Hard to tell with the professionally paranoid, how do you know this one isn't designed to look out rather than in, something they are not likely to admit any time soon.

Re:Oops

[Caerdwyn]

And the Hubble is based on a KH12 spy satellite, just pointed in the opposite direction. In fact, it's so close in design that it shared the same optical flaw as an early KH12 design. The NSA and NRO (who knew about the defect because they'd already had problems with it with their own satellites) debated on whether to tell NASA; if they did they'd be essentially publishing the specs of the KH12 to the world (NASA is incapable of keeping a secret), but if they didn't then NASA would have a defective instrument. They chose the latter, and were thoroughly roasted for it (the repairs to the Hubble were a billion-dollar proposition and a public embarrassment), though of course revealing exact intelligence-gathering capability is never a good idea.

Repurposing and shared-mission SIGINT satellites for scientific use is as old as space flight itself.

Re:Oops

[Jeremy Erwin]

The NSA and NRO (who knew about the defect because they'd already had problems with it with their own satellites) debated on whether to tell NASA; if they did they'd be essentially publishing the specs of the KH12 to the world (NASA is incapable of keeping a secret), but if they didn't then NASA would have a defective instrument. They chose the latter, and were thoroughly roasted for it (the repairs to the Hubble were a billion-dollar proposition and a public embarrassment), though of course revealing exact intelligence-gathering capability is never a good idea.

That story sounds "too good to check". Source?

Re:Oops

[SETIGuy]

Got tired of all the speculation. The resolution of a 100m dish at geosynchronous orbit to 1GHz is 107km. At 10GHz it would be 10.7km. Both those numbers are significantly larger than a scan line. They are also large compared to the distance between cell phones and wifi stations in a suburb. They might be able to get the cell tower half of a conversation, or intercept long distance microwave links.

The largest satellite in the world...

[tompaulco]

...until it was successfully launched.

more expense

[He who knows]

yet another nearly redundant cold war era satelite is now in orbit.

Re:more expense

[electrostatic]

I'm am American who is proud of our technological superiority over the rest of the world. Meanwhile, every electronic or mechanical device with three or more parts that I own is made in China.

Re:more expense

[sznupi]

Well, this one will be placed at 44 degrees E, so it's probably not aimed at you - more at Russia, Caucasus, Middle East, perhaps Somalia.

(that said, the one being "replaced" by this launch was moved just to the west of Europe; so between the two of them there's probably a nice view of the EU)

Re:more expense

[Shakrai]

I'm am American who is proud of our technological superiority over the rest of the world.

I'm an American who is proud of our technological ability but not naive enough to believe we have superiority. Sure, we do a lot of things really well (aerospace, computers, medicine) but other countries are ahead of us in certain areas. Russia builds some really amazing rockets and missiles that don't compare to anything in the West. There is no Western equivalent of Russia's supersonic anti-ship missiles. Or their 200 knot torpedoes.

Anybody that doesn't think our enemies wouldn't have a few rude surprises in store for us if the shit really hit the fan is kidding themselves.

I like big boosters!

[slowhand]

I like big boosters and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a rocket flys in with an itty bitty thruster
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull out your tough
'Cause you notice that booster was stuffed
Deep in the propellant she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get with you
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that booster you got makes me so horny
Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin
You say you wanna get in my Benz?
Well, use me, use me
'Cause you ain't that average groupie
I've seen them dancin'
To hell with romancin'
She's sweat, wet,
Got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette
I'm tired of magazines
Sayin' flat boosters are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back
So, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!)
Has your spacefriend got the booster? (Hell yeah!)
Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!)
Shake that healthy booster!
Baby got back!

crappy site

[callmebill]

Crappy TFA site sports pernicious popups.

Re:Houston, we have multiple problems

[Brett Buck]

None. It either works, or it doesn't.

Re:Commendation

[Pojut]

Want to learn how to make money selling books? All you have to do is buy my book!

Re:Houston, we have multiple problems

[Wyatt Earp]

The problem isn't erroneous information, its that the fuel runs low so they can't be retasked or have orbits boosted (in the case of LEO satellites) as often, power levels drop as the solar panels get older and they enter safe modes more often than they were designed for.

The follow on satellite designs and programs were delayed and costs overran, thats why they are being used longer and longer.

Isn't the largest satellite...

[OfficialReverendStev]

... you know... the moon...?

Re:Will it..

[Anonymous Coward]

But will it find Bin Laden?

No. It is intended to spy on US citizens. Have you been following American news for the past few years? Don't worry though. If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

Re:Will it..

[LWATCDR]

Actually it might. This is a sigint/comint bird. Not really much of leak since it is a big honking satellite on a Delta 4 heavy with a Centaur upper stage launched from the Cape.
Really that was a given. This can pick up just about any wireless communication so yes it may find Bin Laden and it may stop a terrorist attack. It may do a lot of things.
Sigint/Commint is has been very useful for a very long time.

In fact looking at your email address you may want to look up your own nation's history. A good part of the reason that you are not speaking German is because of commint.

Re:Will it..

[Muad'Dave]

Actually it might. This is a sigint/comint bird.

You can keep tabs what orbital slot it ends up in by watching the seesat-l mailing list that Ted Molczan contributes to.

Re:Will it..

[dpilot]

commint? .uk email address?

That's a total Enigma to me.

The Metric system troll

[geirlk]

I thought we all agreed to keep it metric after the last little 'mishap' with the Mars orbiter.

Imperial units are sooo 2 centuries too old!

Maybe you didn't get the memo?

Re:Will it..

[mcgrew]

When Seven of Nine's husband Jack was running against Barack Obama for the Illinois US Senate seat, he was caught up in a sex scandal and the Republicans searched for a replacement. They found a guy from Maryland, a black fellow who'd never set foot in Illinois before.

A comedian said (and sorry, I've forgotten the guy's name), "Those Republicans! First they can't find Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, then they couldn't find WMDs in Iraq, and now thay can't even find a black man in Chicago!"

Re:so much for secrecy

[mcgrew]

Nathaniel hawthorne knew that in 1850.

We have come along way

[kurt555gs]

And to think only 45 years ago, all we could manage was 135 tons to low earth orbit on the Saturn V.

Wow, what progress.

Re:We have come along way

[sznupi]

Almost mass-produced, medium-sized, modular launchers are probably the better way (this Delta does show some of those aspects - and, say, Angara will be very nicely scalable, from 1 to 7 identical core modules) than some huge, rarely launched rocket & the infrastructure required by it.

Especially since we're quite good, for a long time now, at autonomous docking and on-orbit assembly.

Re:We have come along way

[khallow]

Well, we could have had the Ares V, which would have lifted 200 tons to LEO, but Obama canceled it. Of course, since Obama is the anointed one, we all have to pretend this is a good thing and spout rhetoric like, "Ares was expensive"

The Ares V was a bait-and-switch. You spend the big bucks for the Ares V and you get... the Ares I. There were numerous deep problems with the program, but this was one of the biggest. You didn't actually get development towards an Ares V until many years into development.

Second, the Ares I is a redundant rocket (which duplicates the Delta IV Heavy and near future Atlas V Heavy). This was the reason I opposed the Ares program almost from the day it was announced. NASA has a terrible record (mainly from the 70s through 90s) of killing competition when it's allowed to interfere or compete with commercial companies. It would be extremely unhealthy to allow NASA to compete with the 20-25 ton launch vehicles that we currently have. IMHO, the first competitive victim was the separate Delta and Atlas launch groups which were merged into the United Launch Alliance (ULA) at the end of 2006. If NASA had announced it were aggressively using the Delta IV and Atlas V for manned missions, then it is my belief that this merger wouldn't have occurred. As a final remark on this point, supposed through the beginning of 2010, NASA spent $9 billion on the Constellation program. That money would have been enough to pay for roughly 20 Delta IV Heavy launches. Of course, NASA would have needed to spend money on a crew vehicle and "man-rating" the Delta IV Heavy (my understanding is that they'd be about a billion dollars each to do), but they could have been a hell of a lot further along in a real space program, if they had chosen the Delta IV Heavy as the manned vehicle. The Atlas V Heavy was that far off either. They probably could have had two manned vehicles in the Ares I range by now for the money spent on Constellation development.

Third, the choice of the ATK (a brand of Alliant Techsystems) solid rocket motor (SRM) for the first stage led to numerous very serious engineering problems. First, there was the problem of thrust oscillation. The rocket had an oscillation mode close to the frequency of eddies in the rocket chamber in the SRM. The Shuttle also had to worry about this mode, but it had a clever mechanism (the way the solid rocket boosters were attached to the rest of the Shuttle "stack") that damped those vibrations. The Ares I couldn't use that mechanism because the SRM was in line with the rest of the rocket rather than attached tenuously on the side. The program was fixable, but only by adding mass to the rocket and cutting into the performance of the overall system.

There was also the problem of no room to expand. The first stage was made as large as it possibly could. There was no way to make it longer or wider (the length was structurally as far as they could push it, the width was limited by how wide the booster could be and still squeeze through a particular train tunnel). These two issues, plus the inability to develop a cheap, disposable Space Shuttle main engine (SSME) meant that the rocket was over successive revisions experiencing a gradual decline in designed performance. This led to numerous redesigns of the Orion capsule. A big culprit of these redesigns was bad management. The Apollo program also had problems with people not meeting their specifications. They put it together seamlessly because the various managers and designers (particularly, Wernher von Braun and the Marshal Space Flight Center team) anticipated these problems and had the freedom to overengineer their systems. This chapter describes a key choice:

Rosen apparently took the lead in pressing for the fifth engine, consistent with his obstinate push for a "big rocket." The MSFC contingent during the meetings included Wi

Re:We have come along way

[Richard_at_work]

You get what you pay for - at $43.5Billion in todays money for 13 launches, Saturn V was not cheap. The Delta 4 however has an average cost of $210Million with 14 launches, so is considerably cheaper.

Re:Will it..

[LWATCDR]

I know I was making a Colossus assumption.

When propaganda calls it a spy satellite...

[Joshua Fan]

...that means it's really a weapons platform. Just like all "communications satellites" are spy satellites.

Let me slug you over that.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The "total spacecraft mass of about 5,953.5 pounds"? What is this in kilograms? I know at sea level 1 pound is about 2.2. kg - but in low earth orbit?

Sorry, AC. "Slugs" (mass that weighs one pound under one standard g) never caught on in general American English usage. A one-standard-g field is assumed when the context says you're talking about mass and the unit is given as force (weight). The distinction is reserved for discussions among practitioners, teachers, and students of specialized fields (such as physics), who are often dealing with situations where it does matter.

The Toledo Scale motto would be "No Springs, Honest Mass!" if not for this convention. (They're a mass-balance mechanism and not affected by the magnitude of local gravitation, provided it's sufficient for them to operate properly and not high enough to damage the internal components.)

Uh oh...

[Mephistro]

This thing has the right size and lift capability for deploying "rods from God". Scary, isn't it?

Let me slug myself now...

[Ungrounded Lightning]

"Slugs" (mass that weighs one pound under one standard g) never caught on in general American English usage.

Oops. Meant pound-mass (lb-sub-m lbm ), not slug. A slug is about 32.17405 lb-mass, the mass which accelerates by one foot per second squared under a force of one pound.

Illustration of the antenna is misleading.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

One of the linked articles shows a rough illustration of the antenna: A big parabolic umbrella with a forest of feed "horns" (Actually log-periodic crossed YAGIs) on one end of the main satellite at the focus. This maps the feed horns' patterns into an equivalent hexagonal array of slightly overlapping regions on the Earth's surface.

However the illustration also has each feed horn illuminated by a patch on a similar hexagonal array laid out on the surface of the mirror umbrella. That's bogus. In such an antenna the whole reflector illuminates each of the horns.

It's equivalent to a camera lens or a reflector telescope - where light for each pixel on the film is collected by the whole lens/main mirror, but each pixel is illuminated by light arriving from a different direction. The bigger the lens/mirror, the more light that's collected for each pixel, and the tighter the focus, i.e. the larger the number of pixels and the smaller the area each one covers. This is the same game with the "film" consisting of an array of antennas, rather than silver grains or photosensitive spots on a retina chip.

Not spying on the US (Re:Will it...)

[Dr La]

Actually, all Mentor's previous to this one were and are positioned at longitudes covering West Asia and Africa. They do not cover US territory so far. We have reasons to believe this new one will not either.

Used to live in Cape Canaveral . . .

[CG_Man]

Last really big spy satellite I took notice of was one carried on board a Titan IV in 1998 that didn't get very far before before exploding and/or being destroyed by range safety personnel. We usually enjoyed rocket launches (and plenty of mixed drinks) from a friend's condo on the south side of the harbor entrance channel that had a great view of the various launch pads (or at least the rockets after they got a few feet up in the air). For this one, I was on board my ship in port. Someone made a pipe (announcement) that a rocket was going up. Good time for a break. Went up to the foc'sle with my coffee and watched as $1.3 billion of our U.S. tax dollars got blown into tiny little bits. Ughhh. Wondered briefly if pieces were going to land on the ship -- not too likely. Went back below to my stateroom and back to work. Glad this one got further along.

Why Does It Have To Be A Spy Sat?

[IonOtter]

Why not a weapon?