Very interesting.<p>If I recall the details correctly, there have been observations recently of another NRO satellite in a geostationary orbit above the middle east and west Asia, that apparently can maneuver and reposition itself.<p>And if I'm still not mistaken (may have been a different satellite) it was confirmed that this satellite had extraordinarily high communications bandwidth and was speculated to be used either for SIGINT or for operating UAVs.<p>Anyone interested in it, other classified satellites and classified things on the map in general should look up Trevor Paglen. He's a Geographer who's recently begun taking pretty spectacular shots of classified satellites.
A test and demo of capabilities such that Russians and Chinese notice is the most plausible explanation I'd guess. Not sure if they cared if amateurs noticed or not.
Anyone know what software they use to do the Vimeo video in that article? I've been wondering for a while, when I've seen videos like that...
Allow me to don a shiny new cap of quality Reynolds aluminum foil and say this.<p>If it was meant to be observed, and if it was intentional, and if it was nearly "danger close", couldn't this suggest that USA 276 is a platform in development not just to deploy sensors for observation but perhaps to, in the future host systems for engaging and destroying satellites.