NOSS-3 5A

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Mission details:

• ELINT system; wide area ocean surveillance, primarily for the Navy and surveillance of shipping.
• United Launch Alliance's Atlas V flight AV-027, an Atlas V 411 model, was launched from Vandenberg on Apr 15, 2011 with the NRO Launch 34 payload. Analyst Ted Molczan suggested that the payload is likely to be a naval ocean surveillance satellite cluster; these clusters operate in 1100 km circular orbits with 63 deg inclination and carry equipment to track ships and aircraft via their radio transmissions. Two payloads of similar size are placed in orbit and both maneuver to stationkeep relative to one another; however one of the two is cataloged by the US as `debris', apparently in a feeble attempt at misdirection. Both payloads from the Apr 15 launch were observed by hobbyists on Apr 18 in a 1015 x 1207 km x 63.4 deg orbit.
• The Centaur AV-027 second stage was deorbited during the first Earth revolution after deploying the USA 229 main payload and its companion.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Vandenberg AFB.