SpaceX launched one other batch of U.S. spy satellites this morning (Dec. 17) from California’s central coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Area Drive Base right this moment at 8:19 a.m. EST (1319 GMT; 5:19 a.m. native California time), carrying a set of spacecraft for the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace (NRO).
Right now’s flight was the booster’s twenty second mission total. It got here down for a touchdown on the drone ship “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You” within the Pacific Ocean about eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff to mark the corporate’s 384th total restoration of an orbital-class rocket, together with each Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. The flight was SpaceX’s 127th mission of 2024.
The mission, known as NROL-149, “is the sixth launch of NRO’s proliferated structure, eighth launch of 2024 and final launch of the yr!” the company mentioned in an X publish on Sunday (Dec. 15).
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“Proliferated structure” refers to a “new paradigm for property the NRO is placing on orbit,” NRO officers wrote in an outline of the earlier mission within the collection, NROL-126, which launched on Nov. 30.
These property, the outline added, are “quite a few, smaller satellites designed for functionality and resilience.” We do not know a lot past that; the NRO, which operates america’ fleet of spy satellites, tends to not present many particulars about its spacecraft or their actions.
Nonetheless, the proliferated structure payloads are believed to be “Starshield” satellites — spacecraft based mostly on SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites, however with some high-tech reconnaissance gear hooked up.
All 5 proliferated structure missions up to now have lifted off atop Falcon 9 rockets. And all of them launched this yr — NROL-146 in Could, NROL-186 in June, NROL-113 in September, NROL-167 in October and NROL-126 in November.
The primary stage Falcon 9 booster that launched NROL-149 right this moment additionally lofted two earlier spy satellite tv for pc missions, NROL-113 and NROL-167, in keeping with a SpaceX mission description, in addition to NASA’s DART asteroid influence mission.
It is unclear when and the place the Falcon 9’s higher stage will deploy the NROL-149 payloads; SpaceX’s mission description doesn’t present that data. As with most nationwide safety launches, the corporate offered no views of stage separation or payload deployment.
