An astrophotographer from Austria captured an image of a highly classified spacecraft launched by the Pentagon, which stands out due to its unique design and orbit.
Felix Schöfbänker, utilizing a 14-inch Dobsonian telescope, photographed the satellite known as USA 290. Schöfbänker, who often shares his work on the AstroBin platform—a site for amateur astronomers—observed that this satellite had a notably different design and orbit compared to other spy satellites he had previously photographed, he informed Space.com. This satellite was launched in 2019 aboard a Delta IV rocket and is described by NASA as a “top secret surveillance payload” operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). However, USA 290 does not resemble the typical KH-11 spy satellites commonly deployed by the U.S.
“My image shows a different kind of design, which doesn’t look like a typical KH-11. My image shows a large, roughly 5 meter long rectangular panel,” Schöfbänker explained to Space.com. Unlike most KH-11 satellites, which follow a sun-synchronous orbit, USA 290 was noted to have a “strange orbit.” The satellite’s image also depicts a 16-foot-long panel (5 meters), a feature unique to this specific satellite. Schöfbänker speculated that the panel might be a solar panel, although its fixed position would necessitate moving the entire spacecraft to track the Sun. Other potential functions for the panel include serving as a radiator for cooling or as an array antenna for signal intelligence, Space.com reported.
This is not Schöfbänker’s first instance of tracking classified space objects. Last month, he captured a rare image of China’s secretive spaceplane in orbit, a reusable spacecraft that launched on December 14, 2023, and completed a 268-day mission on September 5.
Schöfbänker is not alone in his endeavors to monitor the night skies. Marco Langbroek, an astrodynamics lecturer at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, has also captured images of the X-37 spaceplane in orbit, a clandestine test vehicle utilized by the U.S. Space Force. The increasingly vigilant observation of the night skies by various individuals with telescopes indicates that conducting secretive space missions is becoming more challenging.