SpaceX launched another batch of U.S. spy satellites early Saturday morning (Nov. 30).
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday at 3:10 a.m. EST (0810 GMT; 12:10 a.m. local time). The rocket carried a set of spacecraft for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), as well as 20 of SpaceX's own Starlink broadband spacecraft.
Saturday's mission, known as NROL-126, was the fifth launch to support the NRO's "proliferated architecture." All of the launches so far have been conducted by SpaceX.
Related: SpaceX launches next-gen US spy satellites on 100th Falcon 9 flight of the year (video, photos)
The term "proliferated architecture" describes a "new paradigm for assets the NRO is putting on orbit," the agency, which operates the nation's fleet of spy satellites, said in an NROL-126 mission description.
Those assets are "numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience," according to the NRO. That's a break from the NRO's traditional strategy, which relied on a few highly capable, but very expensive and difficult to replace, eyes in the sky.
We don't know much about the "proliferated architecture" satellites; the activities and abilities of NRO craft tend to be classified. However, these new spacecraft are believed to be based on SpaceX's Starlink satellites, with some fancy, classified sensors attached.
To plan, the Falcon 9 first stage launched on Saturday cawme back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean.
It was the first launch and landing for this particular booster, according to SpaceX's mission description. The Starlink satellites were deployed into low Earth orbit about 62 minutes after liftoff. The mission description didn't say when the NRO craft were to separate from the Falcon 9's upper stage.
The first four proliferated architecture missions also lifted off atop Falcon 9 rockets this year — NROL-146 in May, NROL-186 in June, NROL-113 in September and NROL-167 in October.
NROL-167 marked the 100th flight of 2024 for a Falcon 9, extending SpaceX's record for most liftoffs in a single year. The 2024 tally for the workhorse rocket now stands at 118. Nearly 70% of those missions have been Starlink launches.
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