"At the request of the Missile Defense Agency, an external TV and internet broadcast of this mission will not be provided."http://www.ulalaunch.com/
The orbital parameters are public and there are even artist impressions of the spacecraft.
Quote from: Jim on 04/29/2009 06:48 pmWhat spacecraft? There are none of the ATRR spacecraft. There are some of the Demo spacecraft.Pg. 1 and 5 of the mission overview show it - unless they're not it...
What spacecraft? There are none of the ATRR spacecraft. There are some of the Demo spacecraft.
Pg 5 looks like GLAST
Quote from: Stephan on 04/29/2009 05:44 pm"At the request of the Missile Defense Agency, an external TV and internet broadcast of this mission will not be provided."http://www.ulalaunch.com/More secretive than NRO? That's quite lame... I can understand -with a stretch of imagination- why they want to cut the webcast off once the fairing has dropped, but the whole launch? The orbital parameters are public and there are even artist impressions of the spacecraft.
A real shame, considering that if both this and its sister launch are restricted from broadcast, only seven or so additional Delta II launch viewing opportunities exist before the end.We got to see video of Iran's and North Korea's launches, after the fact. Perhaps MDA will at least meet that standard. - Ed Kyle
Neither MDA nor ULA needs to prove to you that they launched a rocket, so comparing this launch to those by Iran and NK isn't relevant.
Next time Spain holds some military maneuvers, let us know how much live footage you receive. What would you say if Hispasat asked Ariane not to broadcast a launch because something about the vehicle would give away competitive information? Would that really be a problem for your? Would that really be a black mark on Spain's policy of openness?
I'll restate my point. You have been privy to a huge amount of information available live for US launches, including, as a couple of you have stated, many NRO launches. The fact that MDA chooses to restrict live video for this launch does not significantly affect the openness of the US. For any of us to say that it doesn't offer advantages to MDA is totally presumptive on our part. If you believe it truly "invalidates" the US as a leader of the free world, I would say that's just a bit of exaggeration.
This isn't a military maneuver, it's a rocket launch with an enshrouded military payload than can remain, by and large, secret.