Elon Musk's SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified coract with a US ielligence agency. This project shows the deepening of relations between Elon Musk's space company and US national security organizations.
According to the Tekna news agency's aerospace service, this network was built by the Starshield business unit of SpaceX under a $1.8 billion coract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) (the ielligence agency that manages spy satellites). will be
The program reflects the breadth of SpaceX's involveme in U.S. ielligence and military projects, as well as the Peagon's deeper investme in massive, low-Earth-orbit satellite systems iended to support ground forces.
If successful, the program would significaly increase the ability of the US governme and military to quickly ideify poteial targets almost anywhere in the world, the sources said. The deal reflects growing confidence among ielligence agencies in a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked coroversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war.
Techna Media is revealing for the first time that the SpaceX coract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of Earth-imaging satellites that can operate in groups in low orbit, and that the spy agency Musk's company is working with is NRO. SpaceX, the world's largest satellite operator, did not respond to multiple requests for comme on the coract, its role in it and details of the launch of the satellites. The Peagon referred requests for comme to the NRO and SpaceX.
In a stateme, the NRO declined to comme on Reuters' findings about the exte of SpaceX's involveme in the effort, while affirming its mission to develop an advanced satellite system and its partnerships with other governme agencies, companies, research institutions and couries.
“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse and resilie space ielligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” said an NRO spokesperson.
The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with U.S. military and ielligence officials, the sources said. They added that this would allow the US governme to rapidly capture coinuous images of ground activity almost anywhere in the world, aiding ielligence and military operations.
As of 2020, about a dozen prototypes have been launched alongside other satellites on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, according to three sources. The US governme's database of objects in orbit shows that several SpaceX missions have deployed satellites that neither the company nor the governme have ever approved. Two sources confirmed that these were prototypes for the Starshield network.
All the sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the US governme's plan. The Peagon is already one of SpaceX's biggest customers and uses its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads io space. The first Starshield prototype satellite, launched in 2020, was part of a separate nearly $200 million coract that helped position SpaceX for a subseque $1.8 billion award, one of the sources said.
The planned Starshield network is from Starlink, SpaceX's growing commercial broadband portfolio of about 5,500 satellites in space to provide nearly universal Iernet to consumers, businesses and governme agencies.
