US military launched an unmanned rocket sunday to bring “the largest satellite” in the world into orbit.
The Delta 4 Heavy rocket lifted off 5:58 pm Sunday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida bearing a classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
Air Force Brig. Gen Ed Wilson, commander of the 45th Space Wing, bared that the mission of spy satellite was to make sure that the NRO will continue to strengthen the United States defensive capability. The NROL-32 was originally set to be launched November 19 but due to a problem in faulty temperature sensors, the launch date was moved to a couple of days later.
On July 2009, the TerreStar-1, dubbed as the largest commercial satellite ever built was launched into orbit by Ariane 5 rocket. The satellite weighs 8tonnes and comes with a huge 60-foot antenna. In contrast, the Delta 4 Heavy Rocket is the biggest unmanned rocket currently operating. It has 1mega-tonnes thrust-capacity which makes it the most powerful liquid fueled booster available.
Designed and operated by the United Launch Alliance, a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the Delta 4 made its initial launch in 2004 and can carry a maximum of 24 tons into low-Earth orbit and 11 tons to a geostationary orbit.
According to Bruce Carlson, Director of the NRO and previous Air Force general, the latest satellite missions "..are the most aggressive that the agency has had in 20 years." The current launches are meant to replace older satellite prior to their failure. Most of them were purchased for 3, 5 or 8 years and remains on orbit from 10 to 20 years.
Considering that the press-release concerns a classified military operation, the description "spy satellitte" is probably mis-leading, and the satellite could have relations to the anti-missile defence system
Source: NRO and the press
