Secret PAN satellite leads Cape milspace launch surge
BY Craig Covault
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
May 26, 2009
A new military satellite so highly classified the U.S. government will not even divulge which military or intelligence agency owns it is undergoing final checkout for liftoff this summer at Cape Canaveral.
The placement into the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s launch schedule of the $500 million class secret mission, on a large booster and close to launch – but with no public disclosure of who will command it – is highly unusual.
The satellite weighs at least two tons and is code named “PAN.” …
The mission is part of a surge in military spacecraft launch operations at Cape Canaveral, which has already launched three military flights in 2009. The Cape is to launch as many as five more during the second half of the year starting with PAN.
The late placement of PAN in the public schedule, minus any other information, could signal that the Defense Dept. and intelligence agencies are beginning to stiffen secrecy around the growing number of U.S. military space flights. …
The PAN designation is likely a meaningless term used simply so the mission can be called something that will not give away its identity during integration with the launcher. …
The Defense Dept. acknowledges openly that the NRO manages imaging, signal intelligence, and ocean surveillance missions and their relay satellites.
The Air Force operates communications satellites and missile warning spacecraft.
In addition the Missile Defense Agency is openly launching new spacecraft to develop advanced warning sensors while the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing technologies that aid all of the agencies. …
