Sources say Elon Musk’s SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites as part of a secret contract with the US intelligence agency, according to Reuters.
The space company’s Starshield division is working under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the Defence Department’s National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the spy satellites. If successful, the programme will greatly enhance the ability of the US government and military to quickly detect potential targets almost anywhere in the world.
The plans demonstrate the extent of Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s involvement in US intelligence and military projects and show the Pentagon’s deepening investment in huge low-orbit satellite systems designed to support ground forces.
Still, SpaceX have not responded to several requests for comment on the contract, its role in it and details about the satellite launches. The Pentagon sent a request for comment to NRO and SpaceX.
The NRO in a statement acknowledged its mission to develop the complex satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutes and countries, but declined to comment on findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement.
“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.
Sources explain that the satellites will be able to track targets on the ground and transmit that data to US intelligence and military personnel, allowing the US government to quickly obtain continuous images of activity on the ground virtually anywhere in the world to aid intelligence and military operations.
The Pentagon is already a major customer of SpaceX, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military cargo into space. One source noted the first Starshield satellite prototype, which was launched in 2020, formed part of a separate contract worth about $200 million that helped SpaceX receive a subsequent $1.8 billion award.
The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation, which has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide near-global internet.
Starshield is designed to increase resilience to attacks from sophisticated spacefaring nations and greatly enhance the US government’s remote sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with image sensors as well as more relay satellites.
Elon Musk is angering some officials in the Biden administration because of his past oversight of Starlink in Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is using it for secure communications in the conflict with Russia.
