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Close encounters of the classified kind

thespacereview.com

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Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#11

Post by seiferteric »

krapp wrote: post #4
slr555 wrote: post #3

Allow me to don a shiny new cap of quality Reynolds aluminum foil and say this. If it was meant to be observed, and if it was intentional, and if it was nearly "danger close", couldn't this suggest that USA 276 is a platform in development not just to deploy sensors for observation but perhaps to, in the future host systems for engaging and destroying satellites.

Wouldn't its unusual orbit make it less than optimal for intercepting other satellites?

If it was just demonstrating the capability, I would think they could always launch more into more appropriate orbits. I almost think they chose the ISS just to make sure all relevant parties were watching, since it is probably always being closely monitored.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#12

Post by dkersten »

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #2

Very interesting. If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself. And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used eithe…

> it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs.

Given that the recently launched civillian satellite Viasat-2 has a bandwidth of 300Gb/s and a reported expected latency of about 25ms, its not hard to imagine that a classified satellite like this may have crazy high bandwidth and low latency, perfect for reconnaissance, SIGNINT or operating UAVs.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#14

Post by lallysingh »

dkersten wrote: post #12
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #2

Very interesting. If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself. And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used eithe…

> it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs. Given that the recently launched civillian satellite Viasat-2 has a bandwidth of 300Gb/s and a reported expected latency of about 25ms, its not hard to imagine that a classified satellite like this may have crazy high bandwidth and low latency, perfect for rec…

Passive sigint doesn't care about latency. Any sigint capabilities here involve man in the middle.

Edit: unless you're doing sigint in something very fast, like a missile launch.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#18

Post by nabla9 »

rdtsc wrote: post #13

A test and demo of capabilities such that Russians and Chinese notice is the most plausible explanation I'd guess. Not sure if they cared if amateurs noticed or not.

It's impossible to hide anything in leo from Russians or Chinese. They have their own radar and telescope surveillance networks. They always notice.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#19

Post by sephamorr »

dkersten wrote: post #12
LMYahooTFY wrote: post #2

Very interesting. If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself. And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used eithe…

> it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs. Given that the recently launched civillian satellite Viasat-2 has a bandwidth of 300Gb/s and a reported expected latency of about 25ms, its not hard to imagine that a classified satellite like this may have crazy high bandwidth and low latency, perfect for rec…

Not sure where you got the 25ms number from. Viasat-2 is in geostationary orbit at 35000km. The roundtrip speed of light delay alone is 240ms.

Re: Close encounters of the classified kind

#20

Post by onion2k »

slr555 wrote: post #3

Allow me to don a shiny new cap of quality Reynolds aluminum foil and say this. If it was meant to be observed, and if it was intentional, and if it was nearly "danger close", couldn't this suggest that USA 276 is a platform in development not just to deploy sensors for observation but perhaps to, in the future host systems for engaging and destroying satellites.

Would there be a necessity to get close to a satellite to destroy it? Some sort of rocket could be launched from quite far away without needing much fuel if it was already in a similar orbit.
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