USA-231, or ORS-1 (Operationally Responsive Space-1) is an American

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

which was launched in 2011 from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

’s

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

by a

Minotaur I The Minotaur I, or just Minotaur is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minuteman II missile. It is used to launch small satellites for the US Government, and is a member of the Minotaur family of rockets produced by Orbital Sci ...

launch vehicle. It is the first operational satellite of the

Operationally Responsive Space Office The Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS Office) is a joint initiative of several agencies within the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The "stand up" of the office took place 21 May 2007 at Kirtland Air Force Base. The first directo ...

. It is equipped with a SYERS 2A sensor. ORS-1 satellite is designed to provide orbital space imagery of Southwest Asia and to enhance battlespace awareness to operational field commanders. The ORS-1 will undergo a 30-day trial and adjustment check before the ORS Office turns over it operations to USAF's

1st Space Operations Squadron The 1st Space Operations Squadron (1 SOPS) is a United States Space Force unit responsible for space-based space domain awareness. Located at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, the squadron operates the Space Based Space Surveillance system, th ...

Schriever AFB Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Falcon Air Force Base, and Falcon Air Force Station, is a base of the United States Space Force located approximately east of Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs in ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

SYERS

SYERS 2 is an optical and infrared camera with a 40 cm aperature and a field of view larger than 2 degrees. It uses

Time Delay and Integration A time delay and integration or time delay integration (TDI) charge-coupled device (CCD) is an image sensor for capturing images of moving objects at low light levels. While using similar underlying CCD technology, in operation it contrasts with s ...

CCD sensors to compensate for

ground motion Ground motion is the movement of the earth's surface from earthquakes or explosions. Ground motion is produced by seismic waves that are generated by sudden slip on a fault or sudden pressure at the explosive source and travel through the earth a ...

, resulting in a resolution of 1m (

NIIRS The National Imagery Interpretability Rating Scale (NIIRS) is an American subjective scale used for rating the quality of imagery acquired from various types of imaging systems. The NIIRS defines different levels of image quality/interpretability ba ...

4) from a nominal 300 km orbit. SYERS 2 is supplied by the

Goodrich Corporation The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Benjamin Goodrich, the company name was ch ...

. SYERS is also carried by the

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

References

External links

NASA web page on ORS 1SYERS 2 Reconnaissance Sensor
Goodrich acquired by UTS Aerospace, link now broken – tr
ISR systems
an

ORS-1 at eoPortal Directory
{{Orbital launches in 2011 Spacecraft launched in 2011 Spacecraft launched by Minotaur rockets USA satellites

SYERS

See also

References

External links