"It also appears superficial to say the name of the country that put them in orbit, what matters is that our Space Intelligence Center has detected them."
The Russians, according to Ivanovich, monitor about 20.000 space objects on a total of 100.000 identified in the Earth's orbit. The Russians have more than 140 satellites currently operational.
The mission of the Space Intelligence Center, based in Moscow, is to identify operational satellites and update the catalog of space objects in Earth's orbit.
"Nothing is out of our reach"
The National Reconnaissance Office of the United States, in December of the 2013 launched a new spy satellite. The mission's logo and motto are quite explicit. In the new logo is depicted a giant octopus that dominates the world. Its tentacles surround the planet. The motto of the mission instead, is "Nothing is out of our reach".
The choice of the symbol is not casual: the octopus is an intelligent animal, so a good emblem for an intelligence agency.
The enemies of the United States will be reached everywhere, no matter where they choose to hide - they wrote in an official NRO statement - nothing is beyond our reach.
The NROL-39 mission has been classified, like all operations and satellites launched by the secret NRO. The launch of the United Launch Alliance rocket took place at the Air Force Base in Vandenberg, California.
Along with its secret cargo, the rocket also carried 12 "nanosatellites", for a series of scientific missions.
The NRO mission is to design, build, launch and maintain the American intelligence satellites in service.
These are the only information available, the rest is classified.
Franco Iacch
(photo: MoD Russian Federation / National Reconaissance Office)
