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.
A Delta 4 Heavy rocket was scheduled to launch the classified NROL-44 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office paid United Launch Alliance about $2,200,000,000 for the final five Delta 4 Heavy missions.
The National Reconnaissance Office awarded Rocket Lab a contract on 2020-06-18 for back-to-back launches of its Electron rocket from New Zealand in 2021.
The Air Force awarded contracts for the first three Phase 2 missions to SpaceX and ULA for National Reconnaissance Office payloads.
Between 2022 and 2027 United Launch Alliance and SpaceX will collectively fly as many as 34 missions for the Department of Defense and the National Reconnaissance Office under firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery contracts.
Smallsats provide opportunities to perform science, provide information for the intelligence community, and develop technologies and capabilities for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The National Reconnaissance Office plans to qualify a commercial processor used in the oil and gas industry for government space systems.
The National Reconnaissance Office is part of the U.S. intelligence community and works with the Department of Defense to develop, acquire, launch, and operate the nation’s intelligence satellites.
The National Reconnaissance Office intends to take advantage of privately funded innovation and to procure more data from the commercial sector as part of a hybrid architecture of government and commercial remote sensing satellites.
The National Reconnaissance Office tested commercial computer processors, including a processor used in the oil and gas industry, as part of a technology experiment.
Cosmos-2543 reportedly chased USA 245, a classified imaging satellite owned by the National Reconnaissance Office.
The three GEM 63 motors will be used as strap-on boosters to augment thrust on Atlas V in the launch of a National Reconnaissance Office satellite later 2020.
A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 solid propellant rocket launched the NROL-129 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on 2020-07-15 at 9:46 a.m. Eastern from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
NROL-129 was the National Reconnaissance Office’s 54th launch since 1996 and its first launch on a Minotaur 4.
The previous Electron launch before the July mission took place 2020-06-13 and carried three National Reconnaissance Office satellites and smallsats for American and Australian universities.
The NRO currently spends about $300,000,000 a year on imagery provided by Maxar under a sole-source contract known as EnhancedView.
The National Reconnaissance Office awarded study contracts in late last year to radar satellite startup Capella Space and to HawkEye 360.
The National Reconnaissance Office intends to purchase imagery from commercial providers where possible and build systems only when commercial sources are not available to meet unique tailored needs.
The National Reconnaissance Office is modifying its architecture and interfaces to ingest and work with radar and radio-frequency phenomenology data, and progress on those modifications is well underway with initial instantiations beginning.
The National Reconnaissance Office plans to issue a Request for Information to seek industry feedback on creating standard license agreements for imagery.