Due to a technical glitch for the second time cancelled the launch of an American reconnaissance satellite
Moscow. 9 Dec. INTERFAX.RU — due TO technical problems in seven seconds to launch on Sunday was cancelled the launch vehicle Delta IV with the satellite in the interests of National control of military space intelligence, said the United Launch Alliance.
Upstairs
“Today’s launch is canceled, started to drain cryogenic fuels from the launch vehicle. New launch date is not yet established”, — stated in the message.
This is the second cancellation of the launch, which was originally planned on Saturday from an airbase the United States air force Vandenberg in California.
On Saturday it was canceled “due to a problem with a backup line of communication between the control center and the launching pad”.
United Launch Alliance is a joint venture of corporations “Boeing” and “Lockheed Martin”, which carries out launches in the interests of the American intelligence community.
Information about the secret satellite has not been officially disclosed. However, according to available data, in elliptical polar orbit will be launched another reconnaissance satellite KH-11 Key Hole (Keyhole).
The main objective of the satellite is to transfer the intelligence community of the United States in real-time images with ultra-high resolution.
The theoretical resolution of the hardware of the satellite KH-11 is approximately 15 cm main mirror has a diameter of 2.4 meters — the same as on the U.S. space telescope “Hubble”, which was created by the company “Lockheed Martin” on the basis of a reconnaissance satellite KH-11. The size of it is also reminiscent of the “Hubble” and has a length of 19.5 meters, diameter — about 3 meters.
At the moment, as part of the U.S. orbital group already has four satellites of the type KH-11.