Several prototypes have already been launched since 2020.
Government subsidies and orders are considered to be the “leap” on which the business of Elon Musk’s private aerospace company (SpaceX) has risen, and his willingness to cooperate with defense departments is illustrated by the active use of the Starlink satellite communication network to transmit information in combat areas in Ukraine .
Now Reuters, citing five independent sources at once, reports that back in 2021, SpaceX’s Starshield division entered into a highly secretive contract with the US National Space Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which involves the creation of a network of hundreds of reconnaissance satellites. Under the terms of the contract, the American intelligence agency must pay Elon Musk's company about $1.8 billion.
Image source: SpaceX
If successful, this satellite constellation will allow the US military to find targets much faster on almost the entire surface of the Earth. The existence of this contract was first reported by The Wall Street Journal back in February. Reuters emphasizes that we are talking about creating a network of hundreds of low-orbit reconnaissance satellites. NRO, when contacted by Reuters, said it was building an advanced network of reconnaissance satellites, but declined to go into detail about the companies it would use.
More than ten prototypes of such satellites have been launched since 2020 at the same time as others, carried into orbit by SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicles. The government database of orbital objects contains references to several satellites that are not identified in any way. According to Reuters, these are precisely the prototypes of SpaceX reconnaissance satellites. As stated, the Starshield intelligence network will operate independently of the commercial Starlink. Lasers will be used to transmit information quickly between satellites in orbit, sources explain. A third party company is developing equipment for these satellites.