The National Reconnaissance Office plans to quadruple the number of satellites in orbit over the next decade. It will take commercial aerospace companies to help do that.
NRO Director Chris Scolese said in a report that the spy agency’s success in achieving this goal will involve “our partnerships with industry, advancements in technology and a simultaneous reduction in the cost of all these (launch and satellite) systems.” rare interview CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast.
“It helps us improve reliability and allows us to do more at a lower cost,” he said.
The ambitious game plan illustrates the growing role of commercial space companies in national security efforts.
As startups proliferate and technological advances lead the way, government agencies are trying to cut some of the red tape around government contracts and become more creative in how they work with industry. NROs are no exception.
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“The cost of going to space is much lower, and it leads to a lot more commodity spacecraft, and we can buy a production line if you want, which really brings down the cost,” Scholes said. “And then, if you combine those with the sensors you need to get the information, you can really start and scale your architecture in a very affordable way.”
The secretive agency provides the United States with space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, gathering intelligence for policymakers, analysts, warfighters, and even individuals responding to natural disasters.
This is a classified office with a classified budget within the Department of Defense. It is staffed in part by CIA operatives and is one of the country’s 18 intelligence agencies.
In layman’s terms, the NRO operates the United States’ extensive network of spy satellites.
For specialized or unique capabilities, the traditional approach of issuing a request for proposal and launching a competitive bidding and development process remains best, Scolese said.
However, if there are already relevant spacecraft or sensors in development or commercial production, it may make more sense to simply purchase off-the-shelf hardware.
Likewise, since some companies are already taking images or running radar programs, the NRO can “buy data from them … so that we don’t have to … repeat activities that we can reliably get from industry,” he said.
One example: Strategic Commercial Enhancement’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) framework, a program that enables the evaluation and acquisition of emerging sensor technologies. BAAs have been used to acquire electro-optical imagery, synthetic aperture radar, and radio frequency sensing data, and startups including Planet, BlackSky, Spire Global, and others have received various awards over the past few years.
From satellite imagery of Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border ahead of a 2022 invasion, to data collected and publicly released by companies like Planet on a Chinese balloon that crossed the continental US in February, commercial players are increasingly showing their courage.
“[It’s]a combination of two sets of abilities,” Scholes said. “And then if you also join our international partners, you really get a multiplier factor that allows you to do more and do it more efficiently, like we do with our partners.”
Beginning Wednesday, the agency will host a technology forum for further engagement with executives from more than 100 companies expected to attend. Hopefully new ideas emerging from the private sector or academia can be applied to NRO’s growing business.
The agency is also looking to advance new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, and even quantum sensing and communications, Scolese said.
As space becomes a more contested domain, the NRO, much like the U.S. Space Force, is focused on protecting assets, including a “more diffuse architecture” that implements more satellites in more orbits, making it harder for adversaries or bad actors to Damage to critical space infrastructure.
The NRO works closely with U.S. Space Command and Space Force. For example, the agency and the Space Force are collaborating on a highly classified new space situational awareness constellation called SilentBarker, with the first satellites expected to launch this summer.
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