The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has launched its eighth batch of satellites, supporting the proliferated architecture constellation, on a record-fast turnaround time for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket program. The mission included a notable milestone: carrying an unspecified number of Starshield satellites, a government variant built by SpaceX in partnership with Northrop Grumman.
The launch occurred on March 20 at 11:49 p.m. PDT and used the Falcon 9 first stage booster B1088. This was its fourth launch after previously supporting other missions. The rocket’s turnaround time for reusing the booster set a new record, beating the previous record of 13.5 days.
The NRO aims to have hundreds of small satellites in low Earth orbit to support this constellation. According to the agency, having these satellites on orbit will provide greater revisit rates, faster delivery of information, and ultimately help deliver what customers need more quickly.
With this launch, SpaceX has supported the proliferated architecture constellation since January’s NROL-153 mission. The NRO has a dozen launches planned for 2025, with three additional missions set for this year, including NROL-192, NROL-48, and NROL-145.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/03/20/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-reconnaissance-satellites-for-the-nro-on-falcon-9-rocket-from-vandenberg