Jan. 10 (UPI)—SpaceX has introduced new Earth-orbiting shrinking spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, adding to the developing constellation of those U. S. -based intelligence-gathering satellites around the world.
“Based on the good fortune of the launch of NROL-149 on Dec. 17, today’s project demonstrates the existing release rate that strengthens NRO’s intelligence, surveillance, and popularity capabilities,” the company said Thursday.
Satellites have complex remote detection capabilities to provide genuine knowledge of time on the enemy movements of the army and other data to the operations of the United States. The NRO presented six missions last year and added that the launch of Thursday has another five on the horizon in 2025.
“The NRO continues to build and fortify the largest government constellation in history, with proliferated launches continuing through 2028,” the NRO said pre-launch.
SpaceX said it’s the 22nd mission of the Falcon Nine booster in the first step, which safely returned to Earth after launch. It was used on 3 other NRO flights and thirteen Starlink missions.