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U.S. sends spy satellite into space with Russian-powered Atlas 5 rocket
A super secret US spy satellite soared spectacularly to space this afternoon from Cape Canaveral atop a very powerful version of the Atlas V.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched a United Launch Alliance-made Atlas V rocket carrying a spy satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Thursday afternoon. As is nearly always the case with clandestine missions, little was revealed about this launch, the rocket’s payload, or the purpose of the mission. Commentary of the launch ended shortly after the rocket successfully arced toward the east over the Atlantic Ocean.
Typically, spy satellites launched from the East Coast are placed into orbits over the equator. These orbits are roughly 22,300 miles from the Earth, and they tend to be populated with spacecraft equipped to receive and relay eavesdropping signals and intelligence data. Another class of spy satellite that conducts optical- and radar-based surveillance is normally launched from the West Coast and placed into polar orbits. For this mission, observers reported a rocket trajectory consistent with an equatorial orbit placement.
One interesting political facet to this event is that the Atlas V rocket carrying the spy satellite to its undisclosed destination was powered in part by a Russian-made engine. The RD-180 first-stage engine on this 19-story rocket was acquired from RD AMROSS of Jupiter, Florida, a U.S.-based affiliate of both NPO Energomash of Russia and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of West Palm Beach, Florida. The first RD-180 engine was tested in 2000 and used successfully in the first RD-180-powered Atlas V launch in 2002.
Now, amid recent Russian activities relating to unrest in Ukraine and Crim
Read more: U.S. sends spy satellite into space with Russian-powered Atlas 5 rocket | Science Recorder
A super secret US spy satellite soared spectacularly to space this afternoon from Cape Canaveral atop a very powerful version of the Atlas V.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched a United Launch Alliance-made Atlas V rocket carrying a spy satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Thursday afternoon. As is nearly always the case with clandestine missions, little was revealed about this launch, the rocket’s payload, or the purpose of the mission. Commentary of the launch ended shortly after the rocket successfully arced toward the east over the Atlantic Ocean.
Typically, spy satellites launched from the East Coast are placed into orbits over the equator. These orbits are roughly 22,300 miles from the Earth, and they tend to be populated with spacecraft equipped to receive and relay eavesdropping signals and intelligence data. Another class of spy satellite that conducts optical- and radar-based surveillance is normally launched from the West Coast and placed into polar orbits. For this mission, observers reported a rocket trajectory consistent with an equatorial orbit placement.
One interesting political facet to this event is that the Atlas V rocket carrying the spy satellite to its undisclosed destination was powered in part by a Russian-made engine. The RD-180 first-stage engine on this 19-story rocket was acquired from RD AMROSS of Jupiter, Florida, a U.S.-based affiliate of both NPO Energomash of Russia and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of West Palm Beach, Florida. The first RD-180 engine was tested in 2000 and used successfully in the first RD-180-powered Atlas V launch in 2002.
Now, amid recent Russian activities relating to unrest in Ukraine and Crim
Read more: U.S. sends spy satellite into space with Russian-powered Atlas 5 rocket | Science Recorder
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