So something Misty-3-ish eh? Now that's really angry kittens rushing out of the bag!It would probably also explain the very low NROL number for this launch, as well as the rumors that this payload initially cannot be lifted by a Delta IV.(USA-144 = NROL-9 was speculated to be a follow on of the payload on STS-36 when it was launched in 1999)
Could just be a coincidence, of course, and one needs to watch out for confirmation bias, wishful thinking and the like.
...and one also has to watch out for NRO figuring out they are letting the cat out of the bag
Quote from: kevin-rf on 03/23/2012 11:49 am...and one also has to watch out for NRO figuring out they are letting the cat out of the bag I have a tee-shirt for USA-144 featuring a tiger with its claws wrapped around the Earth and the words "The cat's out of the bag"
Quote from: Blackstar on 03/24/2012 01:15 amQuote from: kevin-rf on 03/23/2012 11:49 am...and one also has to watch out for NRO figuring out they are letting the cat out of the bag I have a tee-shirt for USA-144 featuring a tiger with its claws wrapped around the Earth and the words "The cat's out of the bag"Are there any unidentified NRO-associated codewords that might suggest tigers, panthers, leopards, etc?
My guess is that this is the adopted mascot for the overall program, just as the dragon was adopted for a high-altitude sigint program and the owl for the radar program.
Quote from: Blackstar on 03/24/2012 02:09 pmMy guess is that this is the adopted mascot for the overall program, just as the dragon was adopted for a high-altitude sigint program and the owl for the radar program.Or a switch to throw people off
USA-144 was a west coast mission and so I doubt there would be a reason to bring it back to the east coast, especially since there is a west coast heavy capability
[...] NROL-15 does seem to have been an important factor in the development of the RS-68A upgrade for Delta IV. Maybe after the NROL-15 launch we'll get a better idea of why that was.
EIS is not MISTY.
The low NROL number is interesting, but not unheard of. NROL-1 didn't fly until about seven years after NROL-2. Several more highly-numbered launches of the same type of satellite occurred before it, so the low number doesn't tie it to something which hasn't already flown under a higher number. The point is they do seem to trail a number occasionally, and it is unclear if anything can be read into this.
The NROL-1 case is curious, but I haven't taken the time to look into it. Do you happen to have a reference that explicitly ties the designator to to the launch date?
Quote from: ChileVerde on 03/24/2012 05:50 pm[...] NROL-15 does seem to have been an important factor in the development of the RS-68A upgrade for Delta IV. Maybe after the NROL-15 launch we'll get a better idea of why that was.So this is the first launch with the RS-68A? Interesting.