POPPY intelligence satellite - National Cryptologic Museum - DSC07964

POPPY is the code name given to a series of U.S. intelligence satellites 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 ...

. The POPPY satellites recorded

electronic 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 ...

(ELINT) data, targeting radar installations in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Soviet naval ships at sea. The POPPY program was a continuation within NRO's Program C of the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

's (NRL)

Galactic Radiation and Background Galactic Radiation and Background (GRAB) was the first successful United States orbital surveillance program, comprising a series of five Naval Research Laboratory electronic surveillance and solar astronomy satellites, launched from 1960 t ...

(GRAB) ELINT program, also known as ''Tattletale''. The

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

was given the responsibility of collecting, interpreting, and reporting the signals intercepted. The existence of the POPPY program was declassified by the NRO in September 2005, although most of the details about its capabilities and operation are still classified. The NRO revealed, though, that the POPPY satellites, like other US

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) systems, used the principle of signals time difference of arrival, which enables precise locating of an object. All POPPY launches orbited multiple satellites. The first POPPY launch included two satellites, launch #2 and #3 three satellites each, and subsequent launches orbited four satellites each. The full configuration thus employed four vehicles in low Earth orbit. There were seven launches of POPPY satellites from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

from 1962 until 1971, all of which were successful. The program continued until August 1977.

Satellite blocks

The size and capabilities (in particular

radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the u ...

coverage) of the POPPY satellites evolved over the course of the 19-year program. Block I POPPY satellites had a diameter of , identical to the diameter of the GRAB satellites. Two Block I satellites were launched with the first and third POPPY launch (Composite 2 and Composite 4), and one with the second POPPY launch (Composite 3). Block II POPPY satellites had a diameter of and an increased weight. Two Block II satellites were launched on the second POPPY launch (Composite 3), one each on the third and fifth POPPY launch (Composite 4 and 6), and four on the fourth POPPY launch (Composite 5). Block III POPPY satellites had a diameter of and again an increased weight. Three Block III satellites were launched on the fifth POPPY launch (Composite 6), and four each on the sixth and seventh POPPY launches (Composite 7 and 8).

Ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

microthruster Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites. In-space propulsion exclusively deals with propulsion systems used in the vacuum of space and should not be confused with space launch or atmospheric e ...

s were used for station keeping in order to maintain the orbital configuration of the POPPY constellation. Satellites used 2- or 3-axis gravity gradient stabilization. File:Poppy (Type 1).jpg, POPPY Block I (NRL Composite 2) File:Poppy (Type 2) 2.jpg, POPPY Block II (NRL Composite 3) File:Poppy (Type 2).jpg, POPPY Block II (NRL Composite 3) File:POPPY 3 satellite.jpg, POPPY 3 (NRL Composite 4) File:POPPY 4C.jpg, POPPY 4C (NRL Composite 5) File:POPPY 4D.jpg, POPPY 4D (NRL Composite 5) File:POPPY 7.jpg, POPPY 7 (NRL Composite 8)

Ground stations

POPPY satellites functioned in a store-and-dump mode. They recorded and stored data while passing over a target area, and later transmitted or "dumped" this stored information during their pass over a ground station. Known POPPY ground stations were located in Adak, AK, Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal, Edzell, Scotland, and Todendorf, Germany.

Data collection and analysis

Among POPPY's tasks was the detection of signals originating from Soviet early warning radars located along the coastal regions of the USSR. Noticeable discoveries were the first recordings of the HEN HOUSE and TALL KING radars. In the operations building at each ground station, the recorded signals were analysed using Sonographs and

Spectrum analyzer A spectrum analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals. The input signal that most co ...

s, and then compared with already known

Emitter Library Notation Emitter may refer to: __NOTOC__ Devices which emit charged particles *Cathode, or negative electrode, in a vacuum tube or diode *Anode, or positive electrode, in certain applications based on the emission of ions from a solid surface *One of the t ...

s (ELNOT). The analysis results were then sent under the

Byeman Control System The BYEMAN Control System, or simply BYEMAN (designated BYE, or B), was a security control system put in place to protect information about the National Reconnaissance Office and its operations. History The BYEMAN Control System (BCS) was put in ...

to NRL, where Signal Analysis Reports were created.

Launches

References

* MacDonald, Robert A. and Moreno, Sharon K.
Raising the Periscope... Grab and Poppy, America's early ELINT Satellites.
' Pub. by NRO, 2005. * NRO Historian
History of the Poppy satellite system
(scribd.com)
Jonathan's space report No. 554
(2005-09-24) notes on POPPY payloads

External links

Poppy program Fact sheet
*Gunter's Space Page - information on Popp

{{NRO satellites 1962 in spaceflight 1963 in spaceflight 1971 in spaceflight National Reconnaissance Office National Reconnaissance Office satellites Military equipment introduced in the 1960s