The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was secretly created on September 6, 1961 in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik with the purpose of overseeing “all satellite and overflight reconnaissance projects whether overt or covert.” The existence of the organization is no longer classified today but continues to work to foster “Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security.”
Atlas V to Launch NROL-42
The launch of the Atlas V Rocket was televised live via YouTube and on the United Alliance Website on 9.23.17. The intelligence gathering mission appears to be a regularly scheduled flight and is the sixth launch to occur in 2017.
A video of the launch is available at http://www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx
- Rocket: Atlas V 541
- Mission: NROL-42
- Launch Date: Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017
- Launch Time: 10:30 p.m. PDT
- Launch Location: Space Launch Complex 3, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Launch Notes: This launch will be ULA’s sixth of 2017 and 121st overall. NROL-42 will be the 25th mission that ULA has launched for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since the company was founded in 2006. This mission will mark the 73rd Atlas V launch since its inaugural launch on Aug. 21 2002.
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The National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) systems are critical to National Security, U.S. policy makers, and war fighters. These systems provide the foundation for global situational awareness, and address the nation’s toughest intelligence challenges. Frequently, NRO systems are the only collectors able to access critical areas of interest, and data from overhead sensors provides unique information and perspectives not available from other sources.
The NRO’s key customers and mission partners include: policy makers, the Armed Services, the Intelligence Community, Departments of State, Justice and Treasury, and civil agencies. All of them depend on the unique capabilities NRO systems provide:
- Monitoring the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
- Tracking international terrorists, drug traffickers, and criminal organizations
- Developing highly accurate military targeting data and bomb damage assessments
- Supporting international peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations
- Assessing the impact of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and fires.
Together with other Defense Department satellites, the NRO systems play a crucial role in providing global communications, precision navigation, early warning of missile launches and potential military aggression, signals intelligence, and near real-time imagery to U.S. forces to support the war on terrorism and other continuing operations.
NRO satellites also support civil customers in response to disaster relief and environmental research. Scientists created a global environment database using NRO imagery to help predict climate change, assess crop production, map habitats of endangered species, track oil spills, and study wetlands. NRO data also forms the basis for products that help depict and assess the devastation in areas affected by natural disasters.
The NRO’s innovation also inspired technology in everyday life with contributions to medical imaging, global communications, high-definition television, cellular phones, the global positioning system (GPS), and much more.
With its vigilance from above, the NRO gives America’s policymakers, intelligence analysts, warfighters and homeland security specialists the critical information they need to keep America safe, secure, and free.