Zirconic

Zirconic was a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) codename for a program established under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan to develop reconnaissance satellites equipped with stealth technology. Zirconic operated as a sensitive compartmented information program and included the Misty spacecraft, designed to reduce radar, visible, infrared, and laser signatures. Access to related classified material required a dedicated "Zirconic clearance", and the program's 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 tracked it within months. Misty 2 followed in 1999 on a Titan IV-B rocket, during which observers noted the release of a high-altitude decoy intended to obscure the true payload's orbit.

By the early 2000s, Zirconic had become one of the largest single line items in the U.S. intelligence budget, with Misty's development costs rising from US$5 billion to more than US$9 billion by 2004. The program drew scrutiny from the numerous United States Congress committees over the effectiveness of the program. Critics argued that extreme secrecy enabled unchecked spending and limited transparency. Supporters maintained that stealth capability provided unique intelligence advantages in situations where adversaries believed no satellites were overhead.