Another US spy satellite was recently launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster from New Zealand for a mystery mission for the country's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Ariana News reported that the Rocket Lab shut down its webcast after the Electron booster reached orbit per the request of NRO. The agency builds and operates the fleet of spy satellites for the US and generally keeps details about the activities and mission under wraps. The recent satellite dubbed NROL-199 is no exception as only vague information about it was released.
NROL-199 Spy Satellite Launched Two Days Later Than Originally Planned
On Thursday, August 4, the NROL-199 national security satellite that has been the joint effort of NRO and the Australian Department of Defense (AUS DoD) and was dubbed the "Antipodean Adventure" was launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster from New Zealand at 1 AM EDT (0500 GMT).
According to Space.com, it is two days later than originally planned after high winds on August 2 delayed its liftoff. The NROL-199 is on a secret mission. NRO has not released much information about what it will do in low Earth orbit other than supporting government agencies monitoring international issues.
The NROL-199 and NROL-162 missions are part of the responsive launch under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract for launching small satellites through a streamlined commercial approach to Rocket Lab under NRO.
Based on Rocket Lab's list of completed missions, it has been a busy few weeks as the company's CAPSTONE moon mission for NASA was launched on June 28 and was followed by the NROL-162 mission 15 days later. Rocket lab communications manager Murielle Baker said that this makes it the faster turnaround between missions in the company yet.
The Electron is an expendable vehicle and Rocketlab is working towards making its first stage reusable, like SpaceX's rockets. They are planning to catch the falling first stages using a helicopter and hall them back to land for refurbishment and flight for another mission.
They had tried it already in several missions using a helicopter and even managed to snag one booster when it launched 34 satellites last May. However, no such activities were done on the "Antipodean Adventure." The first stage of Electron fell to the Pacific Ocean after it was separated from the upper stage.
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket lifts off from its launch site in Mahia, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island on May 25, 2017. New Zealand joined the exclusive space-race club on May 25 with the successful launch of a Rocket Lab test craft named Electron.
Satellites in the Age of Space Race
The Union of Concerned Scientists in the US monitors satellite activity and publishes the NRO satellites in orbit, which now has more than 150 military satellites or could be more, according to reports.
Some satellites were listed as military/civil or military/government, meaning there could be approximately 339 to 485 military satellites, but not all are necessarily spying satellites. For instance, Russia has 71 military satellites and China has 63 military satellites as of 2020.
More so, France, Germany, India, Italy, Turkey, the UK, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Denmark, and Japan have less than 10 military satellites in low Earth orbit. Today, there are almost 3,000 active satellites, including non-military ones that are used to observe natural phenomena on Earth and those massive satellite internet constellations that account for one-fifth of all satellites.
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