Science
OPS 5712 (P/L 153)
Radar Calibration Satellite (Cold War-Era) · US Air Force
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Launched on the exact same May 31, 1967 mission as OPS 5712 (P/L 160) — the actual Poppy 5A naval SIGINT satellite — OPS 5712 (P/L 153) is cataloged separately under the same generic "OPS" cover name, but it is a different kind of object entirely: SURCAL 153, a passive radar surveillance-calibration satellite carrying no intelligence-gathering payload at all. Its job was never secret — give ground radar a known target to check itself against — it just inherited its sibling's classified-sounding name in the catalog.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 563–568 mi (906–913 km)
- Inclination
- 70.0°
- One orbit
- 103.0 minutes14.0 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 02874
- Int’l designator
- 1967-053H
- Launched
- 1967
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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