{"id":45941,"date":"2023-08-29T17:12:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T09:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/us-spy-satellite-agency-isnt-so-silent-about-new-silent-barker-mission-2\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T17:12:31","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T09:12:31","slug":"us-spy-satellite-agency-isnt-so-silent-about-new-silent-barker-mission-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/us-spy-satellite-agency-isnt-so-silent-about-new-silent-barker-mission-2\/","title":{"rendered":"US spy satellite agency isn\u2019t so silent about new \u201cSilent Barker\u201d mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>9:50 am EDT Tuesday update:&nbsp;<\/strong>The Atlas V rocket has returned to its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to take shelter from Hurricane Idalia, which is forecast to strike the Florida Gulf Coast this week. This rollback of the rocket likely pushes the launch until no earlier than some time Labor Day weekend.<\/p>\n<p style=\"\"><strong>8:45 pm EDT Monday update:&nbsp;<\/strong>The launch of an Atlas V rocket with the Silent Barker mission has been postponed from Tuesday due to Tropical Storm Idalia. \u201cOut of an abundance of caution for personnel safety, a critical national security payload and the approaching Tropical Storm Idalia, the team made the decision to return the rocket and payload to the vertical integration facility (VIF),\u201d ULA said. \u201cWe will work with our customers and the range to confirm our next launch attempt and a new date will be provided once it is safe to launch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Original post:&nbsp;<\/strong>The National Reconnaissance Office doesn\u2019t typically talk about any of its missions, but in an unusual break with precedent, the button-down spy satellite agency is taking a different tack with its next launch Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to be more transparent and share more information,\u201d said Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, in a roundtable with reporters Monday. As more countries and companies launch missions into space, Scolese said the space environment is becoming more congested, contested, and competitive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s also becoming easier and easier to see what\u2019s going up there,\u201d Scolese said. \u201cWe want to let people know, to some extent, what our capabilities are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NRO has multiple satellites\u2014officials won\u2019t say exactly how many\u2014mounted on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for liftoff at 8:34 am EDT (12:34 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Their destination is geosynchronous orbit, a belt of satellites positioned more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>In geosynchronous orbit, a spacecraft completes one lap around Earth at the same rate as the planet\u2019s rotation, giving a satellite a constant view of the same geographic region. That makes geosynchronous orbit a popular location for communications satellites, weather observatories, and platforms to detect the first sign of a missile attack.<\/p>\n<p>The US Space Force and the NRO have numerous satellites in geosynchronous orbit, and the mission poised for liftoff Tuesday will help track potential threats to those multibillion-dollar assets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeosynchronous orbit is far away,\u201d Scolese said. \u201cGround-based systems have a harder time seeing what\u2019s up there. This provides us the capability of being in this same orbit, so that we\u2019re closer to what\u2019s happening up there. It will not be looking at the ground, it will be looking at space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can watch Tuesday\u2019s launch on ULA\u2019s live webcast, which we have embedded on this page.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/76zt-6-fnRg?si=9Idg8X5uB45C4Vx-\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Bark or bite?<\/h2>\n<p>This new mission also has a snappy code name\u2014Silent Barker\u2014and an eye-catching mission patch, which isn\u2019t unusual for launches with NRO spy satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The NRO and the Space Force are partners on the Silent Barker mission. The NRO managed the development of the satellites and will operate them once they\u2019re in orbit, while the Space Force is providing the launch on ULA\u2019s Atlas V rocket.<\/p>\n<p>The Silent Barker satellites will detect and continually track other objects in geosynchronous orbit, a capability that military leaders have prioritized over the last decade. In that time, Pentagon officials say there has been an escalation in \u201ccat and mouse\u201d games between US satellites and those operated by China and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>US officials have highlighted several occurrences of Russian inspector satellites approaching US spy satellites flying in low-Earth orbit in recent years. Higher up in geosynchronous orbit, another mysterious Russian military satellite has roamed near numerous commercial communications satellites and a French-Italian military spacecraft, raising concerns that it may be trying to intercept radio signals.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>The US military already has its own satellites capable of approaching other objects in geosynchronous orbit. These satellites, part of the Space Force\u2019s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), were part of an orbital dance with two Chinese military satellites last year.<\/p>\n<p>The US military dispatched one of the GSSAP satellites to get a closer look at the two Chinese spacecraft, but the Chinese satellites took off in opposite directions. Then one of the Chinese spacecraft&nbsp;settled into a position to get a sunlit view of the Space Force surveillance satellite that had been chasing it.<\/p>\n<p>So far, there haven\u2019t been reports that any of these cat-and-mouse games have resulted in either a physical or cyber attack on a US military satellite, but that\u2019s what the Silent Barker mission is designed to guard against.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1963941 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-300x160.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-640x341.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-768x410.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-1536x819.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-980x523.jpeg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/nrol107patch-1440x768.jpeg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"><\/p>\n<p>                The NRO\u2019s mission patch for the Silent Barker mission. The spy satellite agency says the fox \u201crepresents the cunning nature of the IC (intelligence community) and DoD (Department of Defense).<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          National Reconnaissance Office<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe idea of the mission is to put a satellite into geosynchronous orbit and then to be looking at that orbital regime and get a sense of what\u2019s happening day to day,\u201d Scolese said. \u201cSatellites do move in geosynchronous orbit. You\u2019ve heard about communications satellites moving from one location to another to provide better coverage to other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officials have not disclosed what companies were involved in building the Silent Barker satellites or what kind of sensors the spacecraft will use. The budget for the program also remains a secret.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly, we want to be able to see that so we know what\u2019s going on in the area, but we also want to know if something is going on that is unexpected, or shouldn\u2019t be going on, that could potentially represent a threat to a high-value asset, either ours or one of our allies\u2019,\u201d Scolese said.<\/p>\n<p>He called the Silent Barker mission a \u201cwatchdog\u201d in geosynchronous orbit. That\u2019s similar nomenclature to the \u201cneighborhood watch\u201d description the Space Force has used for the GSSAP satellites. A key difference between the Silent Barker and GSSAP programs, according to military officials, is the ability of the Silent Barker satellites to continually monitor the position, or \u201cmaintain custody,\u201d of other objects in geosynchronous orbit.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Silent Barker is going to do is provide that indication and warning (of a possible threat to a US satellite), so it can inform decisions about what we do or don\u2019t need to do in terms of maneuvers or awareness,\u201d Scolese said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe capability that we\u2019re going to launch tomorrow goes a long way to giving us competitive endurance and competitive advantage in space to make sure we not only see, but maintain custody of the threats in GEO (geosynchronous orbit),\u201d said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, who heads US Space Systems Command, which oversees the military\u2019s procurement of satellites and rockets.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1963943 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1235\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram-300x247.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram-640x527.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram-768x632.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram-980x807.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/geodiagram-1440x1186.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"><\/p>\n<p>                This diagram shows the location of geosynchronous orbit, a popular home for hundreds of military and commercial satellites.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          ESA \u2013 L. Boldt-Christmas<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The military currently relies primarily on ground-based radars to scan geosynchronous orbit. Silent Barker follows up on a dedicated military surveillance satellite that launched in 2010 with an optical sensor to look up at geosynchronous orbit from low-Earth orbit, just a few hundred miles above Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Placing the Silent Barker sensors closer to their observational targets will give the NRO and the Space Force a new set of eyes in geosynchronous orbit. Ground radars come with limitations because they can only see part of the sky at a given time, and there are factors like the weather to consider. The radars also can only detect an object about the size of a basketball or larger. Silent Barker will see smaller objects and won\u2019t be subject to terrestrial limitations.<\/p>\n<h2>Deterrence<\/h2>\n<p>The NRO and the Space Force\u2014formerly the Air Force\u2014have historically overseen separate space programs, with the NRO focused on collecting super-sharp optical and radar images of strategic locations worldwide and eavesdropping on the communications signals from adversaries. They joined forces on Silent Barker a few years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Scolese said it took about three years to develop the Silent Barker mission from the time the Space Force and the NRO decided on an architecture for the program.&nbsp;\u201cWorking together, we\u2019ve developed a system in a relatively short amount of time that\u2019s going to provide us with unprecedented coverage of what\u2019s going on in the GEO belt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>The NRO and the Space Force are talking about the Silent Barker mission because US officials want to deter attacks on satellites by other countries, Guetlein said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA huge element of deterrence is the ability for the adversary to know what we can and cannot see,\u201d Guetlein said. \u201cSo we actually want our competitors to know that we have eyes in GEO and can see what\u2019s happening in GEO. Not only are we going to maintain custody and be able to detect what\u2019s going on in GEO, but we\u2019ll have communications and warnings to know there\u2019s something out of the normal occurring. And that goes a long way toward deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the raw data from the Silent Barker satellites will likely remain classified, the tracking information will feed into the military\u2019s catalog of space objects, which is publicly available and widely used by commercial and international satellite operators to avoid collisions and interference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis data will allow us to have a better-defined space catalog of the objects in geosynchronous orbit and what behavior those objects (exhibit),\u201d Guetlein said.<\/p>\n<p>US officials plan at least one more launch with additional Silent Barker satellites in the coming years, allowing the multi-spacecraft constellation to be fully operational in 2026, Scolese said.<\/p>\n<h2>Atlas V is back in action<\/h2>\n<p>The launch of the Silent Barker mission Tuesday marks the first flight of an Atlas V rocket in nearly 10 months, the longest gap between Atlas V missions in 20 years. The Atlas V was once a workhorse in the launch industry, delivering payloads to space for the military, the NRO, NASA, and commercial customers.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent Atlas V launch last November was the final flight of the rocket from California. The last Atlas V launched from Cape Canaveral nearly 11 months ago.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ars-img-shortcode id-1963944 align-center\">\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-980x653.jpg 980w, https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/53141298959_f035fedbc5_k-1440x960.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p>                The Atlas V rocket on the Silent Barker mission will fly in the vehicle\u2019s most powerful configuration, with five strap-on solid rocket boosters.<\/p>\n<p>                    Credit:<br \/>\n                                          United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>United Launch Alliance is phasing out the Atlas V in favor of its replacement, the Vulcan rocket, which the company hopes to debut before the end of this year. There are 19 Atlas V rockets left in ULA\u2019s inventory, including the mission Tuesday, and all have been sold to customers. Most of the remaining Atlas Vs are reserved for launches of Amazon\u2019s Kuiper broadband constellation and Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>The Silent Barker mission is the 18th and final Atlas V launch for the NRO. Overall, it will be the 98th launch of an Atlas V rocket since its first flight in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas V rocket on Tuesday\u2019s mission will place the Silent Barker satellites close to their final geosynchronous orbit. The launcher will jettison its five solid rocket boosters a couple minutes after liftoff and continue firing its Russian-built RD-180 main engine for around four-and-a-half minutes. Then a Centaur upper stage will take over for multiple burns over several hours before releasing the Silent Barker satellites.<\/p>\n<p>Delays in readying payloads for Atlas V rockets, not ULA schedule slips, have been the primary cause for long waits between Atlas launches. Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule was supposed to launch with astronauts for the first time on an Atlas V rocket in July, but the test flight has been delayed to no earlier than March 2024 to resolve technical problems with the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>An Atlas V rocket was also supposed to launch a large broadband satellite for Viasat and a Space Force mission this year, but those missions have also been delayed by payload problems.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s now likely there will be just one or two more ULA missions this year: An Atlas V launch scheduled for late September with Amazon\u2019s first two Kuiper Internet satellites and the inaugural flight of the new Vulcan rocket, assuming it happens in December and doesn\u2019t move into 2024.<\/p>\n<p>That would bring the total number of ULA launches this year to three or four, including the second-to-last flight of the company\u2019s Delta IV Heavy rocket in June. ULA has never launched so few rockets in a single year since its formation in 2006 with the merger of the rocket divisions of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>9:50 am EDT Tuesday update:&nbsp;The Atlas V rocket has returned to its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to take shelter from Hurricane Idalia, which is forecast to strike the Florida Gulf Coast this week. This rollback of the rocket likely pushes the launch until no earlier than some time Labor Day weekend. 8:45 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7758,6220,25,257,848,9635,350],"class_list":["post-45941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-v","tag-geosynchronous-orbit","tag-launch","tag-military-space","tag-national-reconnaissance-office","tag-silent-barker","tag-space-domain-awareness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}