science

USA-247

USA-247 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand USA-247 rather than just read about it. In short: USA-247, also known as NRO Launch 39 or NROL-39, is an American reconnaissance satellite, operated by the National Reconnaissance Office and launched in December 2013. The USA-247 launch received a relatively high level of press coverage due to the mission's choice of logo, which depicts an octopus sitting astride the globe with the motto "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach".

Key takeaways

USA-247 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect USA-247 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of USA-247 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

USA-247, also known as NRO Launch 39 or NROL-39, is an American reconnaissance satellite, operated by the National Reconnaissance Office and launched in December 2013. The USA-247 launch received a relatively high level of press coverage due to the mission's choice of logo, which depicts an octopus sitting astride the globe with the motto "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach". The logo was extensively criticized in light of the surveillance disclosures in July 2013.

Launch details The satellite has been identified as a radar imaging satellite, developed as part of the Future Imagery Architecture program, to replace the earlier Onyx spacecraft. USA-247 was launched by United Launch Alliance using an Atlas V carrier rocket flying in the 501 configuration, along with twelve CubeSats being carried as secondary payloads. Five of the CubeSats were a part of NASA ELaNa II manifest. Space Launch Complex 3E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base was used to conduct the launch, which took place at 07:14:30 UTC on 6 December 2013 (23:14 local time on 5 December). Identified as NRO Launch 39, it marked the forty-third flight of an Atlas V. The rocket used had been named Belle, and had tail number AV-042.

Mission logo The mission's official logo was a gigantic octopus with its massive arms wrapped around the world, accompanied by the motto "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach". This image was widely deemed controversial in light of the Snowden disclosures. A spokesperson for the NRO explained:

NROL-39 is represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide. 'Nothing is beyond our reach' defines this mission and the value it brings to our nation and the warfighters it supports, who serve valiantly all over the globe, protecting our nation.

After the Director of National Intelligence announced the launch on Twitter, the image was criticized as "tone-deaf" to the political climate caused by the 2013 surveillance disclosures. In a segment discussing mass surveillance entitled "That Thing They Said They're Not Doing? They're Totally Doing", American political commentator Jon Stewart commented on the logo:

I feel like, at this point, our intelligence community is pretty much even owning the fact that they are getting nefarious.Last week, the National Reconnaissance Office launched this spy satellite into orbit;And the logo they chose for their spy rocket—this is real—a giant octopus sucking the face off North America.

The ODNI gave a more mundane explanation for the patch design in an internal magazine, stating that it originated from an engineering in-joke regarding a piece of cabling called an "octopus harness" that caused problems during testing for the satellite, leading the engineering team to joke that "the octopus harness had taken over the world."

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with USA-247

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what USA-247 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to USA-247 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about USA-247 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of USA-247

In research: USA-247 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses USA-247 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: USA-247 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics National Reconnaissance Office satellites, Reconnaissance satellites of the United States, Space synthetic aperture radar, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for USA-247 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study USA-247 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what USA-247 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain USA-247 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is USA-247 in simple terms?

Why does USA-247 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study USA-247?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on USA-247.