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.
The National Reconnaissance Office is partnering with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence on the first commercial rocket launch from the UK.
New Zealand provides the National Reconnaissance Office with the ability to launch from three continents.
The United States National Reconnaissance Office will be able to launch from three continents with the addition of the U.K. launch location alongside New Zealand.
The National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-85 mission launched on 2022-04-17 by SpaceX.
The NRO and SpaceX agreed to move NROL-85 to the West Coast at no extra cost to the U.S. government in exchange for using a reused Falcon 9 first stage.
Capella Space and Iceye were among five companies with which the National Reconnaissance Office signed agreements in the prior year to tap into the commercial market for synthetic aperture radar data from satellites.
After the National Reconnaissance Office selects imagery providers, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency validates their data and builds trust and confidence in the accuracy of their measurements before consuming the products.
The National Reconnaissance Office has worked closely with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and combatant commands to facilitate access to and rapid dissemination of commercial imagery, radio frequency data, and synthetic aperture radar data.
The National Reconnaissance Office is a key target customer for PredaSAR and is seeking relationships with several commercial radar data providers.
HyspecIQ won a National Reconnaissance Office study contract in 2019 that was extended through 2022-09-30.
The National Reconnaissance Office issued a Broad Agency Announcement to survey commercial synthetic aperture radar capabilities and awarded contracts in January to Airbus U.S., Capella, Iceye U.S., PredaSAR, and Umbra to evaluate commercial SAR capabilities.
ICEYE US received a contract from the National Reconnaissance Office to participate in the NRO’s evaluation of commercial remote sensing companies operating synthetic aperture radar satellites.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite designated NROL-85 into orbit on 2022-04-17 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
NROL-85 was the 61st mission launched by the National Reconnaissance Office since the agency’s existence was disclosed in 1996.
The National Reconnaissance Office builds and operates classified U.S. government surveillance and intelligence satellites.
SpaceX previously launched National Reconnaissance Office satellites under commercial contracts.
The National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency more than doubled the procurement of commercial electro-optical imagery over Ukraine as Russia prepared to invade.
BlackSky expects to be one of the companies selected by the National Reconnaissance Office for the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer contract 2022.
Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein is a former deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office and was placed in charge of an organization with approximately $11,000,000,000 in annual spending and nearly 10,000 personnel.
The Atlas V 541 configuration has launched missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, carried the GOES-R and GOES-S satellites, and most recently launched the Mars 2020 mission with the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter.