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. ...

. The POPPY satellites recorded electronic signals intelligence (ELINT) data, targeting radar installations in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

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 ...

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

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level 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, collectio ...

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 intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

(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 Sp ...

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 uppe ...

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, and one with the second POPPY launch. Block II POPPY satellites had a diameter of and an increased weight. Two Block II satellites were launched on the second POPPY launch, one each on the third and fifth POPPY launch, and four on the fourth POPPY launch. Block III POPPY satellites had a diameter of and again an increased weight. Three Block III satellites were launched on the fifth POPPY launch, and four each on the sixth and seventh POPPY launches.

Ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogeno ...

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.

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 satellites Military equipment introduced in the 1960s

Satellite blocks

Launches

See also

References

External links