SpaceX launches the NROL-167 mission on Oct. 24. Photo: SpaceX

The NROL-167 mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., is a step toward what the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is calling “the U.S. government’s largest satellite constellation in history.”

“This mission is the fourth launch of the NRO’s proliferated architecture and signifies the NRO’s increased launch frequency and delivery on orbit for this program,” the agency said of NROL-167.

By the end of the year, the NRO plans to have put more than 100 satellites into orbit since June 2023, NRO Director Chris Scolese said in August.

The NRO said that several more “proliferated space architecture” launches are planned before the end of the year, in addition to the four thus far.

Beside the four “proliferated space architecture” missions, the NRO has had two other launched missions this year — the NROL-123 research mission aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Wallops Island, Va. on March 21 and NROL-70 from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV heavy rocket on Apr 9 — Delta’s final mission.

As part of NRO’s response to “contested” environments that may include Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons and advanced Chinese intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance  satellites, a reduction in launch costs is aiding an NRO move to a proliferated satellite set up in a variety of orbits, Scolese said in August. SpaceX technology has propelled that launch cost reduction.

“The NRO’s next-generation systems will help ensure that the right data is delivered to the right user at the right time, faster than ever before,” the agency said on Thursday. “More than half a dozen launches supporting NRO’s proliferated architecture are planned for 2024, with additional launches expected through 2028.”

The NRO said that the first launch of the proliferated space architecture was NROL-146 on May 22 aboard a Falcon 9, followed by the June 28 NROL-186 mission from Vandenberg, and the NROL-113 mission aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg on Sept. 5.

NRO’s first proliferated architecture launch on May 22nd followed demonstration satellite launches the past few years to verify cost and performance, Troy Meink, principal deputy director of NRO, has said.

NRO said it’s expanding its space architecture — which includes government and commercial satellites — at a faster clip because of the lower launch costs, more launch locations, and lower payload costs.

This story was first published by Defense Daily