By BlueShift | 2024-12-02

The US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), in partnership with US Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 and SpaceX, launched an unspecified number of US spy satellites on November 30.

The NROL-126 mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3.10am EST, the NRO said in a press release.

The rocket also carried 20 of SpaceX's own Starlink broadband spacecraft.

"Approximately eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage booster successfully landed on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean," Space News reported.

It was the first flight for this particular booster, SpaceX said.

"This mission is the fifth launch of the NRO's proliferated architecture, showcasing the efficiency of delivery on orbit for this program," the NRO said.

The agency describes its "proliferated architecture" as a "new paradigm for assets the NRO is putting on orbit."

Eyes in the sky

The November 30 launch follows the launch of the NROL-167 on October 24, the agency said, adding that "the ongoing pace of deployment continues to diversify NRO's operational satellite constellation."

The NRO has launched nine missions over the past 18 months, and plans to launch another three by the end of the year, putting more than 100 payloads on orbit. Additional launches are expected through 2028, it said.

All of the launches so far in 2024 have been conducted by SpaceX.

Not much is known about the NRO's "proliferated constellation of satellites," as the details tend to be classified.

The NRO describes the NROL-126 mission as comprising "numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience."

"That's a break from the NRO's traditional strategy, which relied on a few highly capable, but very expensive and difficult to replace, eyes in the sky," Space.com noted.

The new spacecraft are believed to be based on SpaceX's Starlink satellites but "with some fancy, classified sensors attached," the website said.

Ahead of the competition

The NRO is the world's leader in designing and operating unique intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, meeting the needs of US government intelligence, military, civil and allied partners.

"To stay ahead of the competition and ensure it can continue to operate in a heightened threat environment, the NRO is modernizing its architecture in space and on the ground -- delivering more capability faster with increased resilience," the NRO said in a prelaunch press kit.

"A greater number of satellites -- large and small, government and commercial, in multiple orbits -- will deliver an order of magnitude more signals and images than is available today."

"The NRO's next-generation systems will help ensure that the right data is delivered to the right user at the right time, faster than ever before," the agency said.