GLORIA

In the mid-1980s, the National Reconnaissance Office had a requirement for an ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) satellite payload to search for radar emissions in the EHF frequency range. This was to be part of NRO's Mission 7200 program. Up to that time, Mission 7200 payloads had been installed as secondary payloads on larger reconnaissance satellites, but this option no longer existed after the the end of the HEXAGON program. Therefore the new payload, named GLORIA, was put on a dedicated small satellite which was to be put in orbit on the Space Shuttle.

Photo: NRO

GLORIA

The first such satellite, GLORIA 1, was launched in August 1989. It scanned radar frequencies between 30 and 38 GHz for 17 months, but didn't detect any new unknown signal sources. GLORIA 2 was launched in April 1991, and covered the 18-26 GHz range. It reportedly did actually detect a previously unknown radar, but details about that are still classified. Because of a malfunction of one of its two orbital insertion rocket motors, GLORIA ended up in an elliptic orbit, and reentered the atmosphere after less than 4 months of operation.

GLORIA Launch List

• No.: Sequential flight number for the GLORIA program
• Name: Unclassified name of the satellite. Since June 1984, all U.S. military satellites get a sequential "USA" number.
• Mission: The GLORIA satellites had NRO Mission numbers in the 72xx series.
• COSPAR ID: International designation of the satellite

GLORIA launches

Main Sources

[1] Dwayne A. Day: Stars in the sky: The top secret URSALA, RAQUEL, and FARRAH satellites from the 1970s to the 21st century, The Space Review, March 2025
[2] GLORIA I and II Final Report, NRO, August 1992
[3] Gunter's Space Page (for launch lists)

Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 3

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Last Updated: 31 August 2025