SpaceX launched a pioneering set of spy satellites for the U.S. government
SpaceX launched a pioneering set of spy satellites for the U.S. government early on Wednesday morning (May 22).
The NROL-146 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was successfully launched into space by a Falcon 9 rocket, which took off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT; 1 a.m. local California time).
Limited information is available regarding the payloads launched into space as part of the NROL-146 mission, which is not unexpected given the National Reconnaissance Office’s tendency to disclose minimal details about its satellites’ functions. Consequently, there was no visual documentation of the separation stages of the Falcon 9 rocket.
Approximately six minutes after liftoff, the initial stage of the Falcon 9 rocket initiated its entry burn, commencing its descent back to Earth.
The initial phase successfully landed on the drone ship Of Course I still Love You approximately nine minutes post-launch. This marked the 16th successful launch and landing for the Falcon 9 first stage rocket in question.
In a mission description, NRO states that NROL-146 will be “the first launch of NRO’s proliferated architecture.” The agency explains a bit more about that architecture when discussing the mission’s tagline, “Strength in Numbers.”
NRO officials have written that the motto encapsulates the NRO’s fresh approach of employing a distributed overhead structure, consisting of multiple smaller satellites that are specifically designed to enhance capability and resilience.
It’s therefore probably safe to assume that multiple small satellites are going up on NROL-146, rather than a single bulky spacecraft.
The Falcon 9’s first stage will come safely back to Earth today, if all goes according to plan. It’s scheduled to land about 8 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It will be the 16th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The description does not include any details about the destination of the satellites or a projected deployment schedule, which is usually provided by SpaceX for unclassified missions.
Wednesday morning’s launch will be the 52nd orbital liftoff for SpaceX already in 2024. Of this year’s 51 launches to date, 36 have been devoted to building out the company’s Starlink broadband constellation.