Retrograde NRO satellite launched

A National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite was successfully launched into orbit Wednesday.

NROL-45 was launched at 3:40 a.m. PST atop a Delta IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The payload is secret, but several space news sites noted that the satellite was launched into an unusual retrograde orbit and may be a radar-imaging satellite.

"Because it is launching from Vandenberg, Wednesday's mission can immediately be assumed to be targeting a highly-inclined orbit; lower-inclination trajectories such as geosynchronous orbits cannot be reached from the Western Range as they would require the rocket to overfly the Continental United States," NASAspaceflight.com noted. "Recent NRO launches from Vandenberg have targeted sun-synchronous orbits for optical imaging, highly elliptical orbits for signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellites and low Earth orbits for ocean surveillance and radar imaging spacecraft."

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