NROL-7, Elwood

NROL-7, Elwood

Satellite Designation: Classified

Launch Date: August 12, 1998

Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Space Launch Complex 41

Rocket:  Lockheed Martin Titan IV, General Dynamics Centaur

Orbit: Geosynchronous 

Project: Mercury (Advanced Vortex), SIGINT Collection.  Successor to Vortex (Chalet), which captured radio transmissions, feeding them into ECHELON.

Function: ELINT (Electronic Signals Intelligence) “Technical and geolocation intelligence derived from foreign non communications electromagnetic radiations emanating from other than nuclear detonations or radioactive sources.”

Notes:  Exploded 40 seconds after take off due to a short circuit.  This project cost an estimated $1,000,000,000.00.

Photo by Julia Corbett