Reconnaissance
Andrea Ryan ·
Nov 22, 2010 at 3:57pm
Purportedly, the United States launched the heaviest satellite they have ever launched today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (not the NASA civilian launch facility). They used a Delta IV Heavy booster to place one of the largest payloads into orbit that has ever before been lofted. Any speculation into what this was? ELINT? SIGINT? OPTINT? ....Or, something completely new? Is this the next generation of spy satellites? What do you think the big boys of the National Reconnaissance Office are up to?
Here's a Delta IV Heavy to get perspective of how massive this rocket is. What the heck did they launch?
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Jun '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Great video. CDC engines burning 1 ton of fuel per second, did I hear that right?
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
No clue, but that video was way cool.
Whatever it is, I hope it's positioned over Tehran and not Cleveland. Never quite sure with this POTUS.
Aug '10
Re: Reconnaissance
As part of the Muslim outreach program that NASA has been tasked with, the rocket lifted a new Equality Platform that allows the Muslims to monitor the possible smuggling of Bibles into their countries. Using state of the art detection arrays and high resolution cameras, the offending parties can be identified and eliminated before the actual crime can take place. It's called the "Equality Platform" because the administration recognized the basic injustice in the lack of capability within most Muslim countries due to a lack of space programs, although it's rumored that Shia Iran has put a man on Mars.
Options to be loaded up at a a later date can detect other types of literature and media. Apostate meets Apollo.
The program encountered a good deal of difficulty in it's execution as the entire staff at NASA had to follow a special diet for three months as they were preparing the rocket and payload. Additional costs in replacing of all female staff were reputedly in the billions. This provided a "clean" vessel according to newly written religious observances in rocketry and ballistic missile construction.
Did you know that no woman has ever touched an Iranian nuke ?
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 5:45amAug '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Awesome! Yes, Cas, you heard right. That thing is very heavy indeed. Notice there's no smoke. It's a new engine design, probably burning hydrogen, not the solid fuel of the Shuttle or the kerosene and liquid oxygen of the earlier NASA launches.
I just heard P.W. Singer speak about his new book Wired For War, all about the newest robotics systems we're employing. Military satellites are becoming extremely sophisticated. Check out this link:
http://wiredforwar.pwsinger.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=68
In particular, see the Johnny Walker Android Commercial
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Aha! This is what it was. A Mentor Advanced Orion SIGINT satellite. The antennae span is larger than a football field. The fuel is liquid hydrogen and oxygen. They're actually working on a Delta V Heavy, now, that makes the IV look small. I can't find anything about it on the Internet, but it's all in Aviation Week.
Why isn't the country completely fascinated by this stuff?
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 11:23amAug '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Andrea Ryan:
....Why isn't the country completely fascinated by this stuff? · Nov 22 at 7:59am
Benedictus maximae et veritas quidem, Andrea! People don't realize there's a world-transforming revolution taking place while they're reading about Charlie Sheen's hooker meltdown and the thrilling Royal wedding.
Check this out, from Top Gear a year ago. Robots are growing up, learning, and becoming cognizant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ByGQGiVMg
Sep '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Why isn't the country completely fascinated by this stuff?
Because they're more concerned about the genital patdowns, than the orbital flyovers.
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
River
Andrea Ryan:
....Why isn't the country completely fascinated by this stuff? · Nov 22 at 7:59am
Benedictus maximae et veritas quidem, Andrea! People don't realize there's a world-transforming revolution taking place while they're reading about Charlie Sheen's hooker meltdown and the thrilling Royal wedding.
Check this out, from Top Gear a year ago. Robots are growing up, learning, and becoming cognizant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ByGQGiVMg · Nov 22 at 9:24am
That's probably true. What a waste of a thinking brain.
I haven't had a chance to watch all the videos from your first link, but the Android commercial was pretty cool. The second link you posted was fascinating. I'm sure programming robotics is incredibly tedious, but the semi-finished product is really cool. I wonder why the narrator called the Mini-Cooper one of the most important small cars in history. Leave it to the Japanese to make their robot adorable with big eyes and a giant smiley face.
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Pseudodionysius: Why isn't the country completely fascinated by this stuff?
Because they're more concerned about the genital patdowns, than the orbital flyovers. · Nov 22 at 9:44am
How about both? Our brains do multi-task. :-)
Re: Reconnaissance
I'm with Scott. That video was just unbelievably cool.
What does this huge new SIGINT satellite give us that we didn't already have? Does anyone happen to know? I'm always a trifle worried about SIGINT. We already capture so many more signals than we can process--or that at least is my impression. I'm always in favor of more, I suppose, but at some point sheer gathering has to give way to analysis and interpretation, which in turn requires the judgment of actual, individual human beings.
I just wish I could believe our agents were as good as our satellites.
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Peter Robinson:
What does this huge new SIGINT satellite give us that we didn't already have? Does anyone happen to know?
Ugh! I got booted off and my response is gone. So, second time writing this.
My understanding is that this is a bigger follow-on to the Mentor Advanced Orion launched last year. It has better processing power and more channels, which allows it to look at lots of frequencies at the same time. Bin Laden was detected once with SIGINT when he used his phone. This satellite can probably detect signals by virtue of a device just being on...possibly what it is and where it is. But, you're right. All this intelligence is only as good as the humans interpreting it. There's a lot of electronic noise out there, but the signal processing on this satellite probably extracts only the useful information from orbit making it easier for the analyzers.
Re: Reconnaissance
Andrea, how do you know all this stuff?
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
I was wondering the same thing. Get this woman a drone and kiss bin Laden goodbye.
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
There's a remarkable amount of info out there on the interwebs. Here's a report on this flight that contains some good background. This site is mostly concerned with the launch, but there are others that follow the satellites themselves, but I don't have them bookmarked.From the forum on this site a photograph of the launch taken with a remote camera 200 yds away. Amazing photo!
May '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Harrumph - I can't believe you guys are falling for Andrea's head fake. We all know the Delta IV Heavy was designed specifically to send Barack Obama's ego into orbit.
Aug '10
Re: Reconnaissance
River
Andrea
That's probably true. What a waste of a thinking brain.
I haven't had a chance to watch all the videos from your first link, but the Android commercial was pretty cool. The second link you posted was fascinating. I'm sure programming robotics is incredibly tedious, but the semi-finished product is really cool. I wonder why the narrator called the Mini-Cooper one of the most important small cars in history. Leave it to the Japanese to make their robot adorable with big eyes and a giant smiley face. · Nov 22 at 11:40am
The original Mini Cooper was a tiny box with tiny wheels that weighed in at about 1,500 pounds, and it had a Lotus engine with about 190 horsepower. It was screamingly fast and you could drive it in all weather, since it had a heater. And you could put in a radio; and it was relatively cheap. Very English, and they're still nostalgic about it.
The new one is actually a BMW, and is much more comfortable. But it's slower and heavier.
Re: Reconnaissance
Andrea, if you're not already, you should be following this guy on Twitter. The photos are amazing.
Sep '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Peter, weren't you following the back and forth witty reparte and the 883 page Codex Chatticus? My ex wife Andrea has a thing for Marine aviators, 50 calibre sniper rifles and all things that go boom as well as pounding the living daylights out of street creatures in international locales far and sundry.
Jun '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Scott Reusser
I was wondering the same thing. Get this woman a drone and kiss bin Laden goodbye. · Nov 22 at 4:14pm
If there's any kissing to be done it's definitely Andrea and NOT Bin Laden, thank you very much.
Edited on Nov 22, 2010 at 5:24pmSep '10
Re: Reconnaissance
Oh, and while I'm being catty I should mention how insanely jealous I am that Andrea has already made the main feed.