NOSS-3 3A

USA

Spacecraft n°:

USA satellite n°:

NOSS = Naval Ocean Surveillance System
Also called: NROL-23 / USA-181

Launch data:

Designation	28537 / 05004A
Launch date	03 Feb 2005 - 07:41 UT
Launch site	CC, SLC-36B
Launch vehicle	Atlas-3B-SEC (AC-206)
Mission	Sigint, Ocean Surveillance
Earth orbit on 5 Feb:
Perigee / Apogee	1011 x 1209 km
Inclination	63.42°
Period	107.49 min

145th Atlas launch and last launch from complex 36. Final launch of the Atlas-3B launch vehicle.

Spacecraft data:

Prime contractor	Lockheed Martin
Customer	NRO (Natural Reconnaissance Office) US Navy (N.O.S.S.)
Platform
Mass at launch	kg
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime

Mission details:

The last Atlas launch took place on Feb 3, 2005 from Cape Canaveral with two classified National Reconnaissance Office payloads. Flight AC-206 used an Atlas IIIB with a single-engine Centaur IIIB; amateur observers are tracking the two payloads in a 1011 x 1209 km x 63.4 deg orbit; the Centaur fuel dump left it in a 993 x 1205 km x 63.7 deg orbit. The two USA 181 payloads are thought to be US Navy signals intelligence satellites using radio interferometry to locate ships via their radio signals.

Ref.: #3(SD392), #6n, #7(JR544), #14, #113 - update: 9.10.05