USA 202,[3] previously NRO Launch 26 or NROL-26, is a classified spacecraft which is operated by the United States National Reconnaissance Office. It is an Advanced Orion ELINT satellite. According to Aviation Week, it "fundamentally involves America's biggest, most secret and expensive military spacecraft on board the world's largest rocket."[4] The combined cost of the spacecraft and launch vehicle has been estimated to be over US$2 billion.[4]

USA-202

USA 202 and Thuraya 2, photographed on 8 December 2010 from the Netherlands.
Mission type	ELINT
Operator	NRO
COSPAR ID	2009-001A
SATCAT no.	33490
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Orion
Start of mission
Launch date	18 January 2009, 02:47 (2009-01-18UTC02:47Z) UTC
Rocket	Delta IV Heavy
Launch site	Cape Canaveral SLC-37B
Contractor	United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Geosynchronous
Longitude	44° east[1]
Perigee altitude	35,777 kilometers (22,231 mi)
Apogee altitude	35,809 kilometers (22,251 mi)
Inclination	3.69 degrees
Period	23.93 hours
Epoch	1 January 2014, 15:43:08 UTC[2]

Amateur astronomer observations suspected the satellite was eavesdropping on Thuraya 2 and this was reported to be confirmed by documents released on Sep 9, 2016[5] by The Intercept as part of the Snowden Files.[6]

Launch

USA-202 was launched from Space Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, on the third flight of a Delta IV Heavy rocket. The launch was originally scheduled for 2005, but was delayed due to a number of issues, and lift-off took place at 02:47 GMT on 18 January 2009.[7]

References

External links

• Delta IV Heavy NROL-26 - launch information from ULA.
• The USA 202 ORION satellite A technical analysis of the satellite

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