Post by swamprat on Sept 18, 2014 12:58:06 GMT -6
Mysterious Satellite Launched from Florida by Atlas 5 Rocket
By Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now | September 17, 2014
Rocketing through gloomy skies with a payload clouded in a veil of secrecy, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday to deploy a satellite thousands of miles above Earth.The CLIO satellite's purpose has not been revealed, but officials acknowledged it was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp. in a commercial arrangement with the craft's user: an unidentified U.S. government agency.
The level of secrecy is unusual for U.S. space launches. The National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the government's spy satellites, declares when one of its payloads is shot into orbit.
Such orbits are commonly used by satellites destined to operate in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles high, where a spacecraft's speed and the rate of Earth's rotation match up, allowing a satellite to remain over a fixed location on the planet.CLIO's final orbit is still unknown.
"If CLIO operates in a portion of GEO (geosynchronous orbit) within sight of my fellow hobbyists who track such objects, then they are likely to come across it eventually," said Ted Molczan, a respected Canadian amateur satellite tracker.
The U.S. military and the National Reconnaissance Office own communications, missile detection and early warning, and eavesdropping satellites in such orbits.
But the mission of CLIO is being kept secret.
Lockheed Martin said the satellite is based on commercial technology, including the company's A2100 spacecraft bus, a type of platform used by commercial broadcasting craft, Defense Department communications satellites and the Air Force's Space-Based Infrared System for early warning of missile attacks.
The paradigm of secrecy surrounding Tuesday's launch is similar to another satellite launch in September 2009, when a spacecraft named PAN lifted off from Cape Canaveral.
Like CLIO, the PAN spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin and launched on an Atlas 5 booster for an unspecified U.S. government customer.
www.space.com/27184-mystery-satellite-rocket-launch.html
By Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now | September 17, 2014
Rocketing through gloomy skies with a payload clouded in a veil of secrecy, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday to deploy a satellite thousands of miles above Earth.The CLIO satellite's purpose has not been revealed, but officials acknowledged it was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp. in a commercial arrangement with the craft's user: an unidentified U.S. government agency.
The level of secrecy is unusual for U.S. space launches. The National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the government's spy satellites, declares when one of its payloads is shot into orbit.
Such orbits are commonly used by satellites destined to operate in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles high, where a spacecraft's speed and the rate of Earth's rotation match up, allowing a satellite to remain over a fixed location on the planet.CLIO's final orbit is still unknown.
"If CLIO operates in a portion of GEO (geosynchronous orbit) within sight of my fellow hobbyists who track such objects, then they are likely to come across it eventually," said Ted Molczan, a respected Canadian amateur satellite tracker.
The U.S. military and the National Reconnaissance Office own communications, missile detection and early warning, and eavesdropping satellites in such orbits.
But the mission of CLIO is being kept secret.
Lockheed Martin said the satellite is based on commercial technology, including the company's A2100 spacecraft bus, a type of platform used by commercial broadcasting craft, Defense Department communications satellites and the Air Force's Space-Based Infrared System for early warning of missile attacks.
The paradigm of secrecy surrounding Tuesday's launch is similar to another satellite launch in September 2009, when a spacecraft named PAN lifted off from Cape Canaveral.
Like CLIO, the PAN spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin and launched on an Atlas 5 booster for an unspecified U.S. government customer.
www.space.com/27184-mystery-satellite-rocket-launch.html