SpaceX building hundreds of spy satellites for US government, report says

Enlarge / A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on March 3, 2024. (credit: Getty Images | Anadolu )

SpaceX is "building a network of hundreds of spy satellites" for a US intelligence agency under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021, Reuters reported on Saturday. Reuters cited "five sources familiar with the program" in its report on SpaceX's classified contract with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a Defense Department agency that deploys surveillance satellites and calls itself the "global leader in space-based intelligence."

"The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with US intelligence and military officials, the sources said," according to Reuters. The newly reported details are consistent with a Wall Street Journal report in February 2024 that said SpaceX had "entered into a $1.8 billion classified contract with the US government in 2021."

Reuters wrote that it "was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online" but stated that about a dozen prototype satellites have been launched in the past few years. The prototypes reportedly launched "among other satellites on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets."