NROL-41 (USA215)

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  37162 / 10046A Launch date  21 Sep 2010 - 04:03 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-3E Launch vehicle  Atlas V-501 (AV-025) Mission  Military: Reconnaissance LEO Earth orbit on Oct 12.42: Perigee / Apogee  1101 x 1105 km Eccentricity  0.0003 Inclination  123.00 deg Period  107.33 min

Spacecraft data:

Mission details:

• Lockheed Martin's Atlas AV-025 was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sep 21, 2010 carrying the National Reconnaissance Office's USA 215 (NROL-41) payload into a retrograde low Earth orbit. It is suspected that the payload may be a radar imaging satellite.
• On Sep 22, 2010 the USA 215 satellite, launched the previous day, was in a 1057 x 1072 km x 123.0 deg orbit. By Oct 17 the satellite was in an 1102 x 1105 km x 123.0 deg orbit. The AV-025 Centaur stage has not been cataloged and probably was deorbited shortly after deploying USA 215 over the South Pacific on the first orbit.
• This retrograde orbit is unusual - some previous radar satellites have been launched into 57 degree orbits, and this is the equivalent but going westward instead of eastward. That costs extra fuel since you are fighting the Earth's rotation instead of gaining from it. The altitude is also rather higher than earlier surveillance satellites.
• Amateur observers speculate that this is part of the FIA.