USA 498, the NROL-69 payload, found

click map to enlarge

On 24 March 2025 at 17:48 UTC, a Falcon 9 blasted off from Cape Canaveral launch pad 40 in Florida as NROL-69, carrying the classified USA 498 payload to orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

About two hours later, the launch caused a spectacle in the skies over Europe, as a bright spiral-shaped cloud formed in the sky, moving along the track of the Falcon 9 upper stage from the launch. This was due to the Falcon 9 upper stage venting excess fuel, in preparation for reentry over the Indian Ocean about half an hour later, following a deorbit burn over the northern Atlantic. 

The cloud of fuel droplets vented by the rocket stage was at an altitude of about 1000 km, where it was still in sunlight, causing it to shine brightly in the sky. The spiral pattern is due to the rocket stage spinning around is major axis, in order to stabilize the orientation of the stage in space. This is very typical for Falcon 9 upper stages and has been seen quite a few times now.

 

 

Prior to launch, Navigational Warnings seemed to indicate an initial launch into a 51-52 degree inclined orbit for NROL-69, followed by a burn into an approximately 64.4 degree inclined orbit. 

Initially I interpreted the trajectory as featuring a 'dogleg' manoeuver into 64.4 degree inclination just after launch. I later revised that, following reports from observers in Poland that they saw the Falcon 9 during its first pass over Europe, 25 minutes after launch, in a trajectory more consistent with still being in a 51-52 degree inclination orbit. In addition, reports came from western Australia about a possible remnant exhaust cloud that might have been seen there about an hour after launch. 

I therefore revised my interpretation of the launch sequence. My revised interpretation features an initial insertion into a 51-52 degree coasting orbit, followed by an insertion burn into 64 degrees inclination near the ascending node, about an hour after launch, over the Indian Ocean near western Australia. Following that, and following orbit insertion of the payload, the deorbit burn for the Falcon 9 upper stage happened over the northern Atlantic just after completion of the first revolution, and next the fuel venting seen from Europe around 20 UTC (21 CET), some two hours after the launch, during the first part of the second revolution. Deorbit of the Falcon 9 was around 20:40 UTC, 1.5 revolutions after the launch, over the Indian Ocean southeast of Madagascar (see map in top of this post).

Below are the Navigational Warnings for the launch. The hazard areas from these warninsg are plotted in red in the map in top of this post.

191844Z MAR 25
NAVAREA IV 332/25(11,26).
WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC.
FLORIDA.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING
   241742Z TO 241824Z MAR, ALTERNATE
   251728Z TO 251810Z, 261714Z TO 261756Z,
   271700Z TO 271742Z, 281646Z TO 281728Z,
   291632Z TO 291714Z AND 301618Z TO 301700Z MAR
   IN AREAS BOUND BY:
   A. 28-38.31N 080-37.17W, 28-51.00N 080-14.00W,
      28-44.00N 080-03.00W, 28-30.00N 080-18.00W,
      28-27.40N 080-31.49W.
   B. 30-14.00N 078-53.00W, 31-58.00N 077-03.00W,
      32-18.00N 076-17.00W, 32-02.00N 075-57.00W,
      31-15.00N 076-21.00W, 29-55.00N 078-35.00W.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 301800Z MAR 25.

190258Z MAR 25
HYDROPAC 711/25(61).
INDIAN OCEAN.
DNC 02, DNC 03.
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   1849Z TO 2058Z DAILY 24 THRU 30 MAR
   IN AREA BOUND BY
   23-06.00S 060-45.00E, 24-22.00S 058-21.00E,
   54-18.00S 084-05.00E, 53-02.00S 087-47.00E.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 302158Z MAR 25.//

As 64.4 degrees is the typical inclination for a NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) duo of SIGINT satellites, and given the location and timing of the deorbit area for the upper stage, my initial suspicion was that this could be a new NOSS launch into a 900 x 1300 km 64.4 degree inclined orbit. I was wrong in this however.

Two days after the launch, in the evening of March 26, a number of European observers (Tomi Simola in Finland, Eelke Visser and me in the Netherlands, and David Brearley in the UK) managed to find the payload on-orbit, close to my search orbit. Only one object could be detected, indicating that it is not a NOSS but something else. Below is a stack of several video frames showing the object (video itself is at the end of this post):

click to enlarge

The payload, now named USA 498, was detected in a 64.1 degree inclined, ~700 x 1500 km orbit (but this is based on a very short arc so the exact orbital altitude is still up for revision). We have not seen something in this kind of orbit earlier, apart from NOSS satellites (the closest in orbital similarity otherwise is USA 327 (2022-040A), in a 1076 x 1135 km 63.4 degree inclined orbit).

The plot below shows its orbit and orbital position for the time of my March 26 observation: 

Click image to enlarge

Below is some of my video footage from March 26, showing the payload as an object of about magnitude +5 to +6 (the instrument was a WATEC 902H2 Supreme with 1.2/50 mm lens):

 

Preliminary orbit (McCants):

USA 498 (NROL-69)
1 63350U 25060A   25085.82507109 0.00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    05
2 63350  64.0600 349.1636 0555412  27.6298 328.1938 13.37020084    05