Zirconic

This article is about the space program. For the metal, see Zirconium.

STS-36 launch for Space Shuttle Atlantis, which deployed assets from the Misty satellite program under Zirconic.

Edward Mills Purcell was recognized by the National Reconnaissance Office for his work related to satellite stealth technology.

Zirconic was a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) codename for a program initiated under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan to develop reconnaissance satellites equipped with stealth technology. Concealed within the Byeman Control System (BYEMAN), Zirconic operated as a special compartment and encompassed the Misty and Prowler spacecraft, each designed to minimize radar, visible, infrared, and laser signatures. Access to any Zirconic-related data required a dedicated “Zirconic clearance,” and the underlying development effort was internally codenamed Nebula.

Misty deployments began in 1990, when Misty‑1 launched aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis and was deployed “over the side” rather than through a conventional payload bay ejection; amateur observers nevertheless visually tracked Misty within months. Misty 2 followed in 1999 atop a Titan IV-B rocket, during which observers noted the ejection of a high‑altitude decoy intended to obscure the true payload’s orbit. A subsequent classified follow‑on, Prowler, remained under tight compartmentalization, and its operational details have never been fully disclosed.

By the early 2000s, Zirconic had grown into one of the single largest line items in the U.S. intelligence budget, with Misty’s development costs rising from an initial $5 billion to over $9 billion by 2004. The program drew scrutiny from the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and both the House Committee on Appropriations and Senate Committee on Appropriations, as critics argued that extreme secrecy enabled unchecked spending and limited transparency, while proponents contended that stealth capability provided unique intelligence advantages in scenarios where adversaries believed no satellites were overhead.

History

The NRO has researched the concept of stealth technology-based reconnaissance satellites as far back as 1963. A 1983 Department of Defense report stated that Soviet anti-satellite systems were operational and capable of targeting U.S. spacecraft in low Earth orbit, reinforcing the case for a stealth imaging platform. In 1994, a patent was issued to Teledyne Technologies for a “satellite signature suppression shield” designed to “suppress the laser, radar, visible, and infrared signature of a satellite”.

The Zirconic special compartmentalization was created under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, within the already further restrictive BYEMAN system. The specific technological program at the time was named Nebula, and anyone accessing related data required “Zirconic clearance.”

Jeffrey T. Richelson first disclosed the Zirconic program in his 2002 book, The Wizards of Langley: Inside the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology. The program came to wider public awareness in December 2004, when the Washington Post and New York Times published articles about it. In late 2004, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted to terminate Zirconic. However, despite that SSCI vote, the program continued due to the influence of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and both the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Senator Jay Rockefeller notably attempted to end the program for several years. After Rockefeller and other Democratic senators hinted at the still-classified program’s existence, Senate Republicans questioned whether any Congressional rules had been violated. “Intense” opposition from members of both parties took place behind closed doors for two years. Senator Ron Wyden argued that unmanned aerial vehicles could achieve Misty’s objectives at significantly lower cost and risk. Meanwhile, George J. Tenet and Porter J. Goss emerged as major supporters of Zirconic.

The Washington Post reported that Lockheed Martin served as a lead contractor on Zirconic. By 2004, the program’s cost had grown from $5 billion USD to over $9 billion. Annual spending was reported in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars. Zirconic’s stealth satellite line became the largest single line item in the $40 billion intelligence-related budget. The planned third and final satellite, Misty, followed two prior launches in 1990 and 1999.

Writing for European Security & Defence, Douglas Richardson noted the involvement of Edward Mills Purcell in Zirconic and prior Corona programs “to make these vehicles, if not invisible to radar, hard to observe with radar.” Analysts also observed that the Space Based Infrared Satellite Systems (SBIRS), the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications network, and the optical and radar components of the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA, associated with the NRO's Sentient program) experienced similar cost growth during the same period.

Critics argued that secrecy surrounding programs like Zirconic enabled unchecked spending, since industry lobbyists with clearances had privileged access while skeptics remained uninformed.

Satellite details

A 1971 patent filed by TRW Inc. (later Northrop Grumman through acquisition) employees implied the satellite would mask its radar cross-section, appearing as a benign spacecraft to remote sensors. The patent described a crossed-skirt antiradar screen structure capable of either suppressing a satellite’s radar cross-section or mimicking the signature of a benign space vehicle.

Two decades later, staff of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), later reformed as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), filed a similar patent. The 1990 public patent for a satellite signature suppression shield prompted internal concern at the NRO over potential exposure of classified methods. Because of extreme compartmentalization, Misty’s developers did not consult key satellite-tracking experts at agencies such as the Naval Research Laboratory, potentially overlooking alternative assessments. The Misty program was developed under the supervision of the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T), specifically its Office of Development and Engineering (OD&E). Analysts noted that stealth satellites are less versatile than standard reconnaissance assets and are only useful in rare conditions when adversaries believe no satellites are overhead.

The Misty satellite would have taken photographs during daylight hours and in clear weather. However, it lacked the ability to capture satellite imagery in all-weather conditions. An early proposal to keep a satellite in a high parking orbit and deorbit it only when needed was abandoned after it was determined that film would degrade while in storage.

The camouflage space shield, as described in the SDI patent, took the form of an inflatable balloon that could be quickly deployed and made rigid upon exposure to both external and internally created ultraviolet radiation.

The Misty satellite launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1990 was deployed “over the side” rather than via standard payload bay ejection. Following the 1999 Titan IV-B launch of Misty 2, amateur satellite trackers concluded that the satellite deployed a high-altitude decoy object to obscure the location of the actual payload, which operated in a much lower orbit. Despite Misty 2 being operational, U.S. overhead assets failed to detect North Korean uranium enrichment activities; the discovery was instead made through tracking aluminum tube shipments. After the 1990 launch, both U.S. and Soviet sources incorrectly reported that Misty had malfunctioned and would soon reenter the atmosphere, but the CIA later confirmed it remained operational. In its early use, the KH-11 satellite was mistakenly identified by Soviet analysts as a signals intelligence platform, leading them to reduce their concealment efforts during its overpasses. A formal threat assessment by the CIA’s Office of Scientific and Weapons Research (OSWR) concluded that Soviet tracking systems were unlikely to detect Misty.

Despite its intended stealth, Misty was visually detected by amateur observers within eight months of launch, who tracked it at an altitude of approximately 500 miles. Misty remained in orbit as late as May 1995, though its location and further intelligence contributions thereafter remain unknown.

External links

• Stealth Satellite Sourcebook