The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense and a member of the United States Intelligence Community that designs, builds, launches, and operates reconnaissance satellites for the U.S. federal government. It provides satellite intelligence, including signals intelligence (SIGINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT), and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), to various government agencies like the NSA, NGA, and DIA. The NRO partners with organizations such as the U.S. Space Force, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX, and its activities include developing advanced satellite technology and launching assets into orbit. Keywords associated with the NRO include: reconnaissance satellites, intelligence, national security, and space-based surveillance.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
Two National Reconnaissance Office missions launched 2022-07-13 and 2022-08-04 were small satellites developed jointly with the Australian government and launched on Rocket Lab vehicles from New Zealand.
The National Reconnaissance Office worked closely with the New Zealand Space Agency, which licensed the NROL-199 launch, and with Rocket Lab as the launch provider.
The National Reconnaissance Office treats spacecraft buses as commodities and plans to take advantage of increasingly capable commercial buses to reduce the cost of its constellations.
The National Reconnaissance Office plans for a mix of small and large satellites launched to different orbits to become the norm.
Rocket Lab planned with the National Reconnaissance Office to launch two missions within 10 days.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is teaming up with the U.K. Ministry of Defence to launch experimental smallsats to low Earth orbit in late 2022 on a Virgin Orbit air-launched rocket.
The National Reconnaissance Office plans to award contracts for the commercial RF data program later this summer or early fall.
The commercial RF data program will follow the model the National Reconnaissance Office used to work with commercial providers of space-based synthetic aperture radar data.
In January the National Reconnaissance Office signed agreements with five synthetic aperture radar companies to give the agency access to data collected by commercial satellites so government analysts can better understand the quality of commercially available imagery.
Electron successfully delivered the National Reconnaissance Office national security payload NROL-162 to space.
NROL-162 and NROL-199 are the third and fourth RASR missions contracted to Rocket Lab by the National Reconnaissance Office.
NROL-162 and NROL-199 are missions awarded to Rocket Lab under the NRO’s Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract.
NROL-162 and NROL-199 will carry national security payloads designed, built, and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence.
NROL-162 and NROL-199 are classified reconnaissance satellites developed jointly by the National Reconnaissance Office and the Australian government.
The Australian Department of Defence and the National Reconnaissance Office have committed to a broad range of cooperative satellite activities to expand Australia’s space knowledge and capabilities.
NROL-162 and NROL-199 are the third and fourth missions awarded to Rocket Lab by the National Reconnaissance Office under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract.
Rocket Lab launched the NROL-162 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on 2022-07-13 from the company’s launch complex in New Zealand.
The payloads on NROL-162 and NROL-199 were designed, built, and are operated by the National Reconnaissance Office in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence.
NROL-162 is the first of two NRO missions that the agency developed in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence.
The partnership with Australia is part of the National Reconnaissance Office’s broader effort to create a more integrated space architecture to support U.S. and allied surveillance needs.