The National Reconnaissance Office expects to launch a trio of missions this month, two of which will be used to build out its growing satellite constellation.
The USAF is debating whether to cancel a series of current and future contracts for the Space Development Agency and to use SpaceX-built assets instead.
The NROL-57 mission was launched March 21 at 2:49 a.m. EDT, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg SFB, California.
The demonstrator consists of two 6U cubesats designed by NRO’s advanced systems and tech directorate to support an “experimental technology research mission.”
The company will use the facility to support the design, development and production of new space superiority solutions and expand its classified operations.
President-elect Donald Trump is poised to nominate Troy Meink, the principal deputy director of the NRO, to be the next secretary of the Air Force, Aviation Week has learned.
The first spacecraft from a U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office program to conduct space situational awareness are close to entering operation.
The secretive agency is hitching its wagons to more commercial companies than ever before to harness emerging capabilities and field new remote sensing layers.
