Question Secret space mission

[Suzy]

Would it be possible for a government to launch a manned space mission in secret (i.e. not informing the public, though other governments would know)? Just curious (for a story idea).

 

[Donamy]

The launch really couldn't be a secret, they are very loud and bright, especially at night. Although, they can keep what's flying a secret.

 

[lennartsmit]

You'd need a completely desolate (doesn't include cultures without media-acces) area of about a 500 km. Your best bet would be in the Sahara or somewhere on the ocean. You definitely can keep a payload secret, look at what the US is doing with all it's spy-satelites it's launching. After the fairing separates they imply a media blackout.

 

[tblaxland]

Wouldn't the extra facilities/activites associated with a manned launch be visible via imaging satellite?

 

[Kaito]

Possible: Yes
Easy to do: Not so much.
Think about all the people they'd need to have keep quiet: Engineers, the Astronauts, Staff, Training personnel, witnesses...

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Didn't some country (Soviets or US) experiment with launching orbital vehicles from a submarine? If it was small enough, it might work.

 

[Star Voyager]

Launch it from Vandeberg AFB! All you have to do is lie about the payload .

 

[Unstung]

Finding an area to launch the mission from doesn't seem too difficult.
But, the place would have to be built and hidden. Also, if anybody with a telescope finds the craft flying above them...

 

[Hartmann]

Yes of course,

Launch it from the antartica, a isolated place with a few bases and no curious population except some penguins.

The only problem is carry all hardware to the base, but it could be done by ship and ground transport.

the antartica winter with months of complete darkness and freezing temperatures helps in the cover operations.

 

[Shadow Addict]

This might be incorrect, but if the Earth is rotating fastest at the equator, doesn't that mean it's rotating much more slowly at the poles, making them much more expensive to launch from?

 

[tblaxland]

Yes, it requires more energy to get into orbit if just reaching orbit is your only goal (ie, you don't care about your inclination). But say you want to launch into polar or sun-synchronous orbit. In that case, a near-polar base is actually marginally better than an equatorial one.

 

[Piper]

Yes of course,

Launch it from the antartica, a isolated place with a few bases and no curious population except some penguins.

The only problem is carry all hardware to the base, but it could be done by ship and ground transport.

the antartica winter with months of complete darkness and freezing temperatures helps in the cover operations.

Another advantage to doing it from the Antarctic, is the lack of civilian "spy" satellites (like the ones used for making Google Maps) looking at the Antarctic. In general there is a lack of observation of the Antarctic, even from government agencies. IIRC, many spy satellites of various countries have virtually zero coverage of the Antarctic.

This might be incorrect, but if the Earth is rotating fastest at the equator, doesn't that mean it's rotating much more slowly at the poles, making them much more expensive to launch from?

If you are willing to go through all the extra money for keeping a manned launch a complete secret, I'm sure money isn't an issue.

 

[Unstung]

Antarctica does seem to be safe from commercial/public satellite maps.

 

[tblaxland]

Antarctica does seem to be safe from commercial/public satellite maps.

McMurdo gets pretty good coverage.

 

[SiberianTiger]

How about the chance of the launch getting pinpointed by SBIRS & US-KMO systems? I believe they are tailored to track just that kind of events, relaying down time, location and trajectory parameters of the missile in flight.

 

[Urwumpe]

You can't launch secretly. Your missile will be detected by special early warning satellites, even if you do it from polar regions. Once you leave something in Orbit, it will be detected by radar stations within 2 days, usually earlier.

Also, you can't hide a launch complex - even the Minuteman ICBMs, which need almost no technology around them, are easily detected on satellite images. Only mobile launchers are "invisible" since you can move them while they are detected at a place.

 

[Ghostrider]

You can't launch secretly, but you can always lie about what you've sent up.

 

[Urwumpe]

You can't launch secretly, but you can always lie about what you've sent up.

Not completely. We can always do ISAR imaging (Using radar for making images of moving targets with about 5 cm resolution)... Germany once did so with a 100m antenna.

 

[Hartmann]

Secretly for big powers not possible, but yes for normal countries and general people. if usa, russia and europe are in the same secret could be impossible to be discovered by normal people.

Also it could be possible coated a rocket or satelite with antiradar paint making in difficult to track.

And finally they can say that is a weapon test from a submarine in the zone.
so a secret lauch could be very feasible in the case that they need to do this.

 

[Pilot7893]

In my opinion, a good place for a secret launch would be some sort of platform in the Middle of the Atlantic. Isolated, good inclination wherever you needed.