SpaceX is working with the National Reconnaissance Office to build a classified system of swarming spy satellites, Reuters reports. The $1.8 billion contract was reportedly signed in 2021, but news of the project’s relationship with the NRO only leaked on Saturday — a good reminder that it’s entirely possible for some tech companies to do things without the public knowing. He has been engaged in highly confidential work for many years.
The new satellite spy network was established under SpaceX’s Starshield division, which also manages the Starlink satellite internet. Reuters describes the program as consisting of “hundreds of satellites with Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate in clusters in low orbit.”
The new Reuters article did not mention five sources of information about the new plans, but cited an anonymous source who said “no one can hide” the new satellite system.
from Reuters:
The satellites can track targets on the ground and share data with U.S. intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, this would allow the U.S. government to quickly capture continuous images of ground activity almost anywhere around the world to assist intelligence and military operations, they added.
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The StarShield network is part of a growing competition between the United States and its rivals to become the dominant military force in space, in part by extending spy satellite systems away from bulky, expensive spacecraft in higher orbits. Instead, a vast low-orbit network could provide faster and near-constant imaging of Earth.
this wall street journal First report on new satellite program being developed by SpaceX Februarybut Reuters is the first to provide new information about its customers, and it sounds like a very powerful new spy system.
SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk have been criticized over the past two years, with the billionaire expressing doubts about whether the United States should be involved in helping Ukraine fight a Russian invasion. The war broke out in February 2022, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides, but Musk publicly opposed the United States continuing to help its allies with intelligence and weapons. This appears to be a big problem for U.S. military agencies, as Ukraine relies heavily on Starlink satellite internet for battlefield command and control.
Musk infamously denies Ukraine using Starlink to fight back Russian troops in CrimeaHis biographer, Walter Isaacson, told a story that was embarrassingly retracted at Musk’s insistence after the book was published. But whatever actually happens in Crimea, there appears to be nervousness within the Pentagon about how much the U.S. military relies on Musk. The leak of the latest contract between SpaceX and NRO proves that the public may not know half of it.
As Reuters explained in a new report on Saturday:
The network is also designed to greatly expand the U.S. government’s remote sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with imaging sensors as well as more relay satellites that use inter-satellite lasers to relay imaging data and other communications over the network, two sources said People said.
The NRO was established in 1960 on the heels of some major failures by the U.S. Air Force to get its military satellite program up and running. The Soviet shooting down and capture of U-2 pilot Gary Powers in May 1960 was a deeply embarrassing international event for the Dwight D. Install some suitable mechanical eyes in it to avoid being shot down by opponents.
The NRO was created in 1960 to make the nation’s spy satellites an independent agency that could serve U.S. military customers and U.S. intelligence agencies without sparking turf wars. For example, giving an agency like the CIA sole control of spy satellites could lead to unnecessary internal competition with other agencies. At least that’s what Eisenhower’s science advisers thought at the time.
While a swarm of satellite systems deployed by U.S. intelligence services may sound futuristic, it’s important to remember that U.S. imaging capabilities are already so advanced that, frankly, they made the surveillance thrillers of 1998 possible. enemy of state Looks like a documentary. As one example, the existence of ARGUS-IS, a 1.8-gigapixel camera developed by Darpa and BAE Systems, was revealed in a report. January 2013 An episode from the PBS documentary “The Rise of the Drones.”
ARGUS-IS can provide images of entire U.S. cities while allowing users to zoom in on any section and see enough detail to capture someone waving their arms. To be sure, the reality of U.S. spy capabilities in 2013 was much more advanced than what the public saw on PBS. It’s incredible what kind of resolution America’s Eye in the Sky will be able to achieve a decade from now, not to mention how SpaceX’s swarming satellites might change the game in low-Earth orbit.
A new report from Reuters claims that about a dozen prototypes of this new swarm system have been launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, along with other satellites that may be used for civilian purposes. But this kind of thing is not new.According to Gizmodo Back to 2017, NRO was closely involved in the design of NASA’s space shuttle, even though we still don’t know many details about the payloads NRO hitchhiked into space. It looks the same as before.