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The Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS), reportedly also called White Cloud and PARCAE, refers to one or several systems of SIGINT satellites which conducted ELINT for the U.S. Navy beginning in the early 1970s.
The system is operated by the United States Navy and its main purpose was tactical geolocation of Soviet fleet assets during the Cold War. The NOSS satellites operate in clusters in low Earth orbit to detect radio transmissions from ships at sea and locate them using the "Time Difference Of Arrival" technique.[1]
[edit] Launches
| Date |
Name? |
Alt name |
ID |
Launch vehicle |
Perigee |
Apogee |
Inclination (deg.) |
| 1971-12-14 |
PARCAE test |
1971-110A,C,D,E |
OPS 7898 P/L 1-4 |
Thorad Agena D SLV |
983 km |
999 km |
70.0 |
| 1976-04-30 |
NOSS 1 |
1976-038A,C,D,J |
OPS-6431 |
Atlas F |
1,092 km |
1,128 km |
63.5 |
| 1977-12-8 |
NOSS 2 |
1977-112A,D,E,F |
OPS 8781 |
Atlas F |
1,054 km |
1,169 km |
63.4 |
| 1980-03-03 |
NOSS 3 |
1980-019A,C,D,G |
OPS 7245 |
Atlas F |
1,035 km |
1,150 km |
63.0 |
| 1980-12-09 |
NOSS (failure) |
1980-U01 |
--- |
Atlas E |
--- |
--- |
--- |
| 1983-02-09 |
NOSS 4 |
1983-008A,E,F,H |
OPS 0252 |
Atlas H |
1,063 km |
1,186 km |
63.40 |
| 1983-06-09 |
NOSS 5 |
1983-056A,C,D,G |
OPS 6432 |
Atlas H |
851 km |
1363 km |
63.4 |
| 1984-02-05 |
NOSS 6 |
1984-012A,C,D,F |
OPS 8737 |
Atlas H |
1,052 km |
1,172 km |
63.4 |
| 1986-02-09 |
NOSS 7 |
1986-014A,E,F,H |
USA 15, USA 16, USA 17, USA 18 |
Atlas H |
1,049 km |
1,166 km |
63.0 |
| 1987-05-15 |
NOSS 8 |
1987-043A,E,F,H |
USA 22, USA 23, USA 24, USA 26 |
Atlas H |
1,045 km |
1,179 km |
62.9 |
| 1990-06-08 |
NOSS 2-1 |
1990-050C,D,E |
USA 59, USA 60, USA 61, USA 62 |
Titan 4 |
1071 km |
1146 km |
63.4 |
| 1991-11-08 |
NOSS 2-2 |
1991-076A,C,D,E |
USA 72, USA 74, USA 76, USA 77 |
Titan 4 |
1052 km |
1164 km |
63.4 |
| 1996-05-12 |
NOSS 2-3 |
1996-029A,B,C,D |
USA 119, USA 120, USA 121, USA 122 |
Atlas E/F |
1050 km |
1166 km |
63.4 |
| 2001-09-08 |
NOSS 3-1 |
2001-040A,C |
USA 160 |
Atlas 2AS |
1100 km |
1100 km |
63 |
| 2003-12-02 |
NOSS 3-2 |
2003-054A,C |
USA 173 |
Atlas 2AS |
1013 km |
1200 km |
63.4 |
| 2005-02-03 |
NOSS 3-3 |
2005-004A,C |
USA 181 |
Atlas 3B/Centaur |
1011 km |
1209 km |
63.4 |
| 2007-02-12 |
NOSS 3-4 |
2007-027A,C |
USA 194 |
Atlas 5 |
|
|
|
data from [1], [2]
[edit] References
- ^ NOSS Double and Triple Satellite Formations. satobs.org.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
