NRL ELINT

Class: SIGINT. Destination: Surveillance Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy.

NRL ELINT satellite.

Typical orbit: 553 x 1347 km, 70 deg inclinaton. Mass: 34 kg (74 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D, Thorad Agena D SLV-2G.

NRL ELINT Chronology

1962 December 13 - Black Sphere - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D. Mass: 23 kg (50 lb). Perigee: 230 km (140 mi). Apogee: 2,385 km (1,481 mi). Inclination: 70.30 deg. Period: 111.80 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

1962 December 13 - Calsphere 1A - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D. Mass: 23 kg (50 lb). Perigee: 228 km (141 mi). Apogee: 2,069 km (1,285 mi). Inclination: 70.30 deg. Period: 108.40 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

1963 June 15 - USN satellite - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D. Mass: 35 kg (77 lb). Perigee: 170 km (100 mi). Apogee: 859 km (533 mi). Inclination: 69.90 deg. Period: 94.90 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

1964 January 11 - Unidentified - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D. Mass: 40 kg (88 lb). Perigee: 902 km (560 mi). Apogee: 919 km (571 mi). Inclination: 69.90 deg. Period: 103.20 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

1965 March 9 - Solrad 6B - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena D. Mass: 40 kg (88 lb). Perigee: 896 km (556 mi). Apogee: 924 km (574 mi). Inclination: 70.10 deg. Period: 103.20 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

1969 September 30 - Surcal - Program: ELINT. Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Thorad Agena D SLV-2G. Mass: 40 kg (88 lb). Perigee: 899 km (558 mi). Apogee: 926 km (575 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 103.30 min.
Identified by McDowell as probable NRL ELINT satellite.

Bibliography and Further Reading

McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited since Sputnik. Accessed at: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html.

USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

Krebs, Gunter, Gunter's Space Page, University of Frankfurt, 1996. Accessed at: http://www.skyrocket.de/space.

JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

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