Atlas 5 rocket launches secret satellite

AP ^ | 09 Sep 2009 | AP

[BGHater]

Few details available about military mission ... except that it succeeded

An Atlas 5 rocket has lifted off from Florida carrying a highly classified military satellite.

The rocket launched into a nearly cloudless sky at 5:35 p.m. ET Tuesday.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture involving Lockheed Martin and Boeing, handled the launch.

Eric Brian, a spokesman for the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, declined to say which branch of the military will command the satellite in orbit. Brian said the rocket carried a $500 million payload. The satellite was made by Lockheed Martin.

United Launch Alliance would say only that the payload reached its initial intended orbit about two hours after liftoff. The satellite, known as P360/PAN, appeared to be headed for a geostationary orbit.

[BGHater]

Theories Emerge on Secret Satellite Launch-Wired

[samtheman]

How can it be “secret” when the current occupant of the WH has access to the information?

Who is it secret from? Certainly no enemy of America.

[samtheman]

appeared to be headed for a geostationary orbit

How many geostationary orbits are there?

They all have to be over the equator, correct?

Do they all have to be the same altitude, regardless of the weight of the orbiting object?

[Vaquero]

and for no particular reason....

.....May 1962, Atlas-Mercury Scott Carpenter

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[BGHater]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av018/

Worth a read.

[McGruff]

UFOs are real?

[driftdiver]

probably a satellite they can use to track right wingers.

[Rockingham]

Yes, all geostationary orbits are over the equator. The weight of a satellite does not affect the orbit, only the power of the boost need to place it there. On the other hand, heavier satellites tend to be more capable, more consequential, and more expensive. This particular satellite seems to be a stop gap to avoid loss of defense communications capability before the next generation of major defense communications satellites is built and orbited.

[chuckles]

If this was planned a few years ago, it may be headed for Iran. With Obami, it may remain turned off to protect their “right’s” without a court order. An attack by Israel is coming within 6 months or less. Obami may give rights to it to Iran to follow the incoming.

[samtheman]

Thanks for your answer but I’m still not clear on this point:

Is it true that there is a single line circling the earth, parallel to the equator and a certain specific distance from the earth (22,000 miles, or whatever the exact number is), and that ALL geosynchronous satellites must share that one single (circle) line?

Is that the case?

[samtheman]

thanks

[Rockingham]

Yes. Even with an orbital circle of 165,000 miles, geosynchronous slots are valuable and disputes arise.

[Yo-Yo]

Is it true that there is a single line circling the earth, parallel to the equator and a certain specific distance from the earth (22,000 miles, or whatever the exact number is), and that ALL geosynchronous satellites must share that one single (circle) line?

No, there are also inclined geosynchronous orbits that also orbit the Earth once in 24 hours, and crosses the equator twice, but as viewed from the Earth, carve out a figure eight path in the sky, rather than staying stationary at a single point.

The satellites for Sirius Satellite Radio Service are in inclined geosynchronous orbit, and their vertical tracks go from Canada to Argentina.

[samtheman]

Interesting. So these are called “inclined geosynchronous”. What are the fixed-over-a-single point orbits called? Just plain “geosynchronous”, or do they have their own adverb?

[Yo-Yo]

Interesting. So these are called “inclined geosynchronous”. What are the fixed-over-a-single point orbits called? Just plain “geosynchronous”, or do they have their own adverb?

They are called "geostationary."

[Moonman62]

They also look like highly elliptical orbits because of the speeding up and slowing down.

[Yo-Yo]

yes, their orbits are are elliptical as well as inclined. Were they in a circular inclined orbit, then the amount of deviation above and below the equator would be equal, crossing the equator at a single point.

Were they elliptical but not inclined, then they would appear to move left and right over the equator.

[myknowledge]

We'll need an ASAT missile if we find this satellite to be used to spy on our own people.

[Straight Vermonter]

Yeah anywhere above the equator but the orbit is 265,000km long so there is a lot of room up there.

[samtheman]

I wonder how close 2 satellites on that same orbit could be without affecting each other.

If one satellite is over a cigar store in Kampala, Uganda, for example, and another is over a barber shop on the next block, are they too close to each other?

[Straight Vermonter]

Good question. In Arthur C. Clarke’s book “The Fountains of Paradise” they actually link all of the satellites together into one continuous band around the Earth.