NROL-68 (satellite)

2023: Satellite Launch

On June 22, 2023, the United States launched a Delta 4-Heavy rocket from the United Launch Alliance with a secret spy satellite for the National Intelligence Agency of America. The launch was carried out from the 37B complex at the cosmodrome located at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Delta 4-Heavy delivered a top-secret spy satellite to orbit for the U.S. government, breaking the longest lull in launches in ULA history. The National Intelligence Agency does not officially disclose details about its satellites. According to industry experts overseeing military space missions, the Delta 4 rocket sent a large spacecraft into orbit designed to intercept phone calls, data communications and other types of communications by U.S. adversaries.

Delta 4-Heavy rocket

The circumstances of Thursday's launch, including an eastbound trajectory and the use of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket, suggest a satellite known as Orion or Mentor was on board. Satellites fly in geosynchronous orbit, rotating at a distance of more than 36 thousand km and closely pressing against the equator. In this orbit, the satellites move synchronously with the rotation of the Earth, which provides them with a fixed coverage zone over the same parts of the light 24 hours a day.

The advanced Orion satellites require a combination of the lift of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket, a long-running booster, and a huge three-section 19.8 m payload fairing. The ULA launch team at Delta's Cape Canaveral Operations Center monitored the eight-and-a-half hour countdown. The live broadcast of the ULA launch ended and the rest of Delta 4's ascent to geosynchronous orbit was held in secrecy.

The satellite intelligence agency that designated the NROL-68 mission did not disclose any details about the payload. According to specialists of the department, the American architecture is developing so that "the United States remains the undisputed leader in space."

The capabilities that we put into orbit expand our intelligence advantages and allow us to fulfill our mission to ensure the security of America, the agency emphasized.

The four previous Delta 4-Heavy launches in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2020 followed similar trajectories after takeoff from Cape Canaveral, and each carried a classified cargo for the U.S. National Intelligence Agency. Independent analysts believe they all brought top-secret NRO satellites into space for eavesdropping.

Before the 2010 launch of the proposed Advanced Orion satellite, then-NRO director Bruce Carlson named the payload the largest satellite in the world. It is assumed that the satellites carry giant antennas, which, once in space, turn up to a diameter of 100 meters. Probably, the antenna can be set to listen to negotiations between US opponents. It is not known how much of the world the newest Advanced Orion satellite will cover, whether it will replace the older satellite or expand the NRO eavesdropping network.

The Advanced Orion series satellites began launching on Titan 4 rockets in 1995, following a pair of earlier NRO Orion vehicles that were launched in the 1980s on space shuttles. NRO began using Delta 4-Heavy rockets to launch Orion satellites in 2009, following the discontinuation of the Titan 4 launch vehicle. Spy agency satellites collect images and intelligence that help military commanders, top politicians and the US president make decisions.^[1]

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