{"id":34644,"date":"2020-01-23T20:23:43","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T20:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/23\/the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:13:01","slug":"the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2020\/01\/23\/the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"The US will launch its next spy satellite from New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The National Reconnaissance Office\u2019s first satellite launch of 2020 will take place in New Zealand, with the agency taking advantage of a new contract vehicle designed to leverage growing commercial small satellite launch capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rocket Lab, a Los Angeles-based company, announced Jan. 20 it had been selected by the NRO to launch the agency\u2019s first satellite of 2020\u2014NROL-151.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/satellites\/2019\/06\/04\/how-the-nro-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-commercial-imagery\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TNS_6493.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">How the NRO learned to stop worrying and love the commercial imagery<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The National Reconnaissance Office is dipping its toe into the world of commercial data, awarding three study contracts that will put it on track to start purchasing commercial satellite imagery.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NRO is the agency charged with acquiring and operating the United States\u2019 intelligence satellites. As with most of its satellites, the NRO has not provided substantial details on NROL-151\u2019s capabilities or purpose. It does, however, have a mission name: \u201cBirds of a Feather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This launch is the first the NRO has awarded through the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract vehicle, an acquisition method the agency adopted in 2018 to leverage commercial small satellite launch capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(RASR) enables our exploration of new launch opportunities by providing a streamlined, commercial approach for launching (small satellites),\u201d the agency wrote in a Jan. 20 Twitter thread. \u201cUnder this approach, RASR helps us pursue the use of both large &amp; small satellites to create an integrated architecture that provides global coverage to answer a wide range of intelligence questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rocket Lab will use its Electron reusable rocket for the launch. Following a separate but successful mission in December, Rocket Lab will attempt a guided reentry of the first stage through the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The company has launched 47 small satellites aboard the Electron since the New Zealand launch site first began operating in Jan. 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New Zealand is a Five Eyes country\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2020\/01\/13\/2-goals-for-one-of-the-militarys-new-space-organizations\/\" target=_blank>one that has increased its space collaboration<\/a> with the United States in recent months. On Twitter, the NRO stated it was looking forward to continued collaboration with New Zealand on the NROL-151 mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch window extends from Jan. 31 through Feb. 13 local time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rocket Lab will provide the National Reconnaissance Office&#8217;s first launch under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket contract vehicle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":23,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,163,36,23],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3385],"class_list":["post-34644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-space-report","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XH77PTIC2VH37B5K24XS3BMIPU","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2020\/01\/23\/the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The US will launch its next spy satellite from New Zealand - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rocket Lab will provide the National Reconnaissance Office&#039;s first launch under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket contract vehicle.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2020\/01\/23\/the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US will launch its next spy satellite from New Zealand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rocket Lab will provide the National Reconnaissance Office&#039;s first launch under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket contract vehicle.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2020\/01\/23\/the-us-will-launch-its-next-spy-satellite-from-new-zealand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-23T20:23:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T18:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan Strout\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan Strout\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": 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