Trumpet-F/O-2 1 (USA 259, NROL 35)

Spacecraft nº:

US spacecraft nº:

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• NROL-35 is a top-secret satellite-delivery flight for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The NRO is the secretive government agency that controls the country's spy satellites. The identity and purpose of the payload launched Friday were not released to the public. But speculation centered on a new generation of electronic signals intelligence-gathering satellite, commonly referred to as Trumpet, and that flies in a Molniya-style orbit of 700 by 23,300 miles (1,127 by 37,498 km).

Mission details:

• On Dec 13, 2014 a United Launch Alliance Atlas V was sent into highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 63 deg. The payload is probably a signals intelligence satellite with an attached SBIRS-HEO early warning sensor as a secondary payload. The early stages of the launch were observed by many people in the Los Angeles area; the Centaur venting was seen from the UK and Ireland at about 0530 UTC. This mission used the new RL-10C-1 upper stage engine for the first time (refurbished from Delta IV RL-10B-2 engines replacing the RL10A-4 used previously); a three-burn Centaur profile appears to have been used, with spacecraft separation about 0520 UTC into a 2101 x 37748 km x 62.9 deg orbit. The Centaur is thought to have been deorbited at 0507 UTC with reentry around 1330 UTC, and was not cataloged; observations suggest the post burn orbit was -140 x 36615 km x 63.9 deg.