Orion, also known as Mentor or Advanced Orion, is a class of United States

spy satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

s that collect

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

(SIGINT) from space. Operated by the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...

(NRO) and developed with input from the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA), eight have been launched from

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

on Titan IV and Delta IV

launch vehicles A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

since 1995.

Description

These satellites at

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

s collect radio emissions (

SIGINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

) and act as replacements for the older constellation of Magnum satellites. The satellites have estimated mass close to 5,200 kg and very large (estimated 100 m diameter) radio reflecting dishes.

USA-223 USA-223, known before launch as NRO Launch 32 (NRO L-32), is an American reconnaissance satellite which was launched in 2010. It is operated by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. It presently holds the record for being the largest ...

(NROL-32), which is seen as the fifth satellite in the series, is according to NRO director

Bruce Carlson Bruce Carlson may refer to: * Bruce A. Carlson (born 1949), United States Air Force general * Bruce Carlson (composer) (born 1944), Canadian composer * Bruce A. Carlson (zoologist) {{hndis, Carlson, Bruce ...

"the largest satellite in the world." It is believed that this refers to the diameter of the main antenna, which might be well in excess of . The mission and capabilities of these satellites are highly

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

, though targets may include telemetry, VHF radio, cellular mobile phones, paging signals, and mobile data links. Earlier satellites with similar missions, the

Rhyolite/Aquacade Aquacade, previously designated Rhyolite, was a class of SIGINT spy satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office for the United States Central Intelligence Agency. The National Security Agency (NSA) was also reportedly involved. The ...

series, were built by TRW; it is not known who made the Orion satellites.Jonathan's Space Report No. 369
(1998-08-22). File:USA202 Mentor4.jpg, USA-202 shows up as a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

+8 "star" in this image. Note how the real stars are trailed in this 10-second exposure: the geostationary satellite is pinpoint. File:NROL-32b_ULA_21NOV2010.jpg, USA-223 (NROL-32), the fifth "Mentor" satellite, atop a Delta IV rocket File:USA202_Thuraya2.jpg, USA-202 and the nearby commercial geostationary satellite Thuraya 2

Satellites

Mentor-4 (USA-202) deployment and initial westward drift after launch in January 2009 was controlled by the

Pine Gap Pine Gap is a joint Australian–United States satellite communications and signals intelligence surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately south-west of the town of Alice Springs. It is jointly operated by Australia and ...

base. About 60 days after launch Menwith Hill Ground Station was to take over control and initiate the collection mission. Mentor-4's initial mission was to survey line-of-sight microwave towers and emitters in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for 30 to 45 days as it was drifting from east to west. Moving further west, it was to collect data from the

Thuraya Thuraya (, Gulf Arabic pron.: ; from the Arabic name for the Pleiades, ''Thurayya'') is a United Arab Emirates-based regional mobile-satellite service (MSS) provider. The company operates two geosynchronous satellites and provides telecommunic ...

network and monitor

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, followed by another 200 days of monitoring of China. This was to be followed by data collection covering the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Northern Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

References

External links

Advanced Orion
at

Encyclopedia Astronautica The ''Encyclopedia Astronautica'' is a reference web site on Space exploration, space travel. The encyclopedia includes 79,433 articles with 13,741 illustrations, a comprehensive catalog of missiles, spacecraft, space technology, astronauts, an ...

Magnum/ Mentor/ Orion
at Globalsecurity.org
The USA 202 ORION satellite
{{Orbital launches in 2023 Reconnaissance satellites of the United States Signals intelligence satellites Military equipment introduced in the 1990s