NROL-71 is scheduled for launch from VAFB on 2018 Dec 08 at 04:19 UTC, aboard a Delta IV-Heavy. I believe that the payload is the first of the 5th generation of large electro-optical satellite of KH-11 heritage. The NGA has issued the Broadcast Warning, which reveals an unprecedented orbit for the series: http://satobs.org/seesat_ref/misc/NROL-71_Broadcast_Warning.png The launch azimuth is about 163 deg, which evaluates to about a 74 deg inclination orbit. All previous launches have been sun-synchronous. There was a stealthy variant called Misty, which resulted in two launches to quasi-65 deg orbits in 1990 and 1999. Here is a kmz file with the Broadcast Warning. http://satobs.org/seesat_ref/misc/NROL-71_Broadcast_Warning.kmz I intend to post search elements later. Ted Molczan _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Mon Dec 03 2018 - 13:53:24 UTC
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