Christopher Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), said the NRO is becoming more dependent on small satellites to support research experiments, SpaceNews reported Monday.
“Cubesats allow us to respond more quickly,” Scolese said Monday during a live webcast at the 2020 Small Satellite Conference. “Smallsats can provide lots of opportunities to do science, to provide information for the intelligence community and to allow us to develop technologies and capabilities.”
He said the agency is leveraging low-cost launch services and small satellites to bring more technology platforms in space to explore future mission capabilities.
“You can get something up in one to three years or faster, and the price of launch is lower because you can rideshare,” Scolese said. ‘We’ll be able to do more with smaller satellites.”
