The National Reconnaissance Office has deployed a research and development demonstrator from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on March 15.
Launching Payloads Via Rideshare Mission
NRO said Saturday the payload was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission. This marked the second Second R&D mission launched by NRO in 2025. The Otter R&D payload was launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-12 rideshare mission in January.
The R&D demonstrator includes two 6U CubeSats intended for an NRO experimental technology research mission. It was designed and operated by the agency’s Advanced Systems & Technology directorate.
Aaron Weiner, director of NRO’s AS&T, remarked, “The NRO’s commitment to demonstrating experimental technology in orbit allows us to stay at the forefront of innovation. Through efforts like this, AS&T is posturing the NRO to maintain its advantage in delivering space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems that are responsive to future national security challenges.”
The agency has consistently fulfilled the needs of the U.S. intelligence, military, civil and allied partners for over 60 years. This includes space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, systems. NRO is developing advanced systems to safeguard data and expedite its delivery.
Related Articles
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has appointed Tidal “Ty” McCoy II, most recently a principal at Nexfed, as intelligence community chief financial officer. McCoy announced his appointment at ODNI in a LinkedIn post published Tuesday. Hear experts discuss the latest tech advancements, trends and opportunities facing the IC at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Intel Summit on Oct. 2. Reserve your spot now! Who Is Tidal McCoy? In 2022, McCoy joined strategy consulting firm Nextfed as a vice president. At Nexfed, he led the firm’s intelligence and acquisition strategy practice and played a key role in mergers
The National Science Foundation has launched an initiative to invest up to $100 million in a national network of artificial intelligence-enabled programmable cloud laboratories as part of efforts to advance automated science and engineering and drive discoveries and innovation. NSF said Tuesday the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, or TIP, will lead the NSF Test Bed: Toward a Network of Programmable Cloud Laboratories, or NSF PCL Test Bed. “The idea of a national network of programmable cloud laboratories builds on NSF’s longstanding legacy of transformative investments — such as NSFNET decades ago — that paved the way for the modern
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Angus King, I-Maine have proposed legislation that would spare the Navy’s four public shipyards from workforce reductions. Called the Protecting Public Naval Shipyards Act, the bipartisan bill tells the Department of Defense to exempt certain positions at public shipyards from hiring freezes and layoffs to ensure that nuclear-powered submarine maintenance and overhaul are uninterrupted. “This bipartisan bill will ensure that important naval operations continue without disruption by exempting public shipyard employees from the chaotic mass firings, workforce reductions, and hiring freezes directed by the Trump Administration,” said Hassan. Top