14 DAY TRIAL // The US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) will launch a new spy satellite into Earth's orbit on Thursday, August 2. Takeoff is scheduled to occur at 12:40 am PDT (0740 GMT), from the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), in California.
The classified payload will fly to space aboard an Atlas V delivery system built by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnership between The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin. This particular mission will mark the fifth Atlas V launch from the US West Coast.
In addition to the new spy satellite, known as NROL-36, the payload fairing also contains a batch of 11 Cubesats, developed by a variety of universities and research centers. The tiny spacecraft will also be injected into orbit once the main payload is deployed.
Final preparations for takeoff are currently underway at the VAFB Space Launch Complex 3E (SLC-3E), officials report. The installation features standard retractable service gantry and a fixed umbilical tower, unlike the “barren” pads Atlas V uses to launch from Florida.
The past four Atlas V launches that occurred on the West Coast carried three NRO spy satellites and a military weather spacecraft. All of them occurred successfully, and officials are hopeful that tomorrow's launch will go on without a hitch, Space reports.
NRO, as per usual, did not disclose any information about the nature of NROL-36. The type and purpose of the satellite are unknown, but analysts believe it is a standard spy satellite, destined to be injected in a polar orbit around the planet.
“Any NRO launch is critical to national security, delivering new intel capabilities out to the warfighters. Even though we are winding down some operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the need for intel is still growing,” Lt. Col. Dan Gillen explains.
The official commands the 4th Space Launch Squadron, the organization in charge of overseeing Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rocket launches from the VAFB.
The military installation is even now preparing for an upcoming, highly anticipated launch featuring a NRO cargo and the Delta 4-Heavy delivery system. Takeoff on this groundbreaking flight is scheduled to occur around 1 year from now.
At least two other launches are scheduled for 2013 too, including a new Landsat Earth-monitoring satellite (in February) and a GeoEye 2 Earth-imaging spacecraft (in April).