Last year , the National Reconnaissance Office trip a medium frenzy when it give up a spy satellite mission patchdepicting an Earth - eating octopus . But , that ’s not even close to the weird logos bestowed upon U.S. spy artificial satellite — and distance partisan believe they ’re codes for the undercover mission payloads .
https://gizmodo.com/us-spy-agency-launched-this-earth-conquering-octopus-lo-1479029015
While NASA mission plot of ground lean to be rather low central , NRO logos see like they could have been hook from overweight metal album or the Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual . Among the cast of type : a three - headed tartar , a cut phoenix , a voluptuous violet - haired sorceress ( top ) and a satanic fig ( below ) with a skyrocket engine shoved up its ass .
Writing in Smithsonian magazine , Rachel Nuwertells the historyof these freaky , kitschy patches and why there may be a method to their lyssa .
Although the mission of spy satellites are kept mystical , the NRO publicly announces their launch dates ( since it ’s hard to hide a Eruca sativa launching ) . The agency did n’t seem to mind when the mission patches were leaked , and finally it released images of the logos . Still , for eld — specially before the geological era of societal media — only a handful of space enthusiast knew about the plot of land . But that changed in 2000 , with the launch of a payload phone NROL-11 :
The mission mend depicted what appeared to be owl optic peering down at the Earth , where four pointer - shaped vectors , two per orbit , made their way across Africa . Three of the vectors were blank , and one was coloured . base solely on studying the intention , civilian satellite security guard Ted Molczan hypothesized that the patch showed a failed satellite ( the dark vector ) , and that the newly launched satellite would take its place .
for certain enough , after the launching a Modern satellite appear just where Molczan predicted….it seemed that NROL-11 ’s plot of ground had inadvertently revealed classified details about its payload ’s whereabouts , and when the story break , the patches suddenly appear on the public ’s microwave radar . Although the patches were under more scrutiny than ever before , the federal agency did n’t wince . Rather than classify them or discontinue the tradition , NRO ramped up its game . Subsequent designs became even more pathetic , featuring patriotic Gorilla gorilla or 16th - 100 ships , for good example .
In the years since , space enthusiasts continue to consider whether the designers of the delegacy patches are just messing with our heads or there are still hidden clues if you depend intemperately enough . Consider , for example , the patch for NROL-33 ( above ) , which was launched this past May . Nuwer reports that some enthusiasts reflect that the five ray of light bourgeon out of the winged warrior ’s hand represent five pre - existing artificial satellite in the Quasar communications system , since a Quasar orbiter was the presume load . The wolves , face up in different directions , could betoken three fresh stance in this organization . And the put Lord’s Day symbolize that this will be the final Quasar launch .
To see a drift of other patches , and their interpretations , read the eternal sleep of Nuwer ’s article at the website ofSmithsonian magazine .
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