SpaceX lofted yet another batch of next-gen spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) this morning (April 20).
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California’s foggy Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT; 5:29 a.m. local California time), on a mission the NRO called NROL-145.
NROL-145 was the 10th launch in support of NRO’s “proliferated architecture,” a new network consisting of many cost-effective small satellites rather than a few highly capable, but expensive, ones.
“Having hundreds of small satellites on orbit is invaluable to the NRO’s mission,” NRO Director Chris Scolese said in a press kit about the proliferated architecture network, which you can find here.
“They will provide greater revisit rates, increased coverage, more timely delivery of information — and ultimately help us deliver more of what our customers need even faster,” Scolese added.
Everything appeared to go well today; the Falcon 9’s first stage landed on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean about eight minutes after launch as planned. It was the 12th launch and touchdown for this particular booster, according to SpaceX.
Related: SpaceX launches next-gen US spy satellites on 100th Falcon 9 flight of the year (video, photos)
SpaceX ended its livestream today just after booster landing, at the NRO’s request; we got no views from the Falcon 9’s upper stage or info about the payloads. That’s not surprising; the NRO tends to be pretty tight-lipped about its spacecraft and their activities.
But the proliferated architecture craft are believed to be modified versions of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, with some high-tech spy gear attached.
The first proliferated architecture mission launched in May 2024. All 10 of them have flown on Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg.