NROL-87 Mission

February 4, 2022

NROL-87 was launched by SpaceX. Under the mission, the company recently launched a spy satellite for the US military. The satellite was carried by Falcon rocket. This is the second of the three planned launches under the mission. Much information of the NRO fleet is never leaked out. This is because these satellites are used for military purposes.

About NROL-87

It is the first NRO mission that involved rocket landing. Rocket landing is also called vertical landing. It was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force base located in California. The NROL-87 is a US reconnaissance satellite. The Falcon rocket delivered the satellite at 512.7 km orbit. It was placed in a Sun Synchronous Orbit. It is also called helio synchronous orbit. It is a polar orbit. Here the satellite passes through the given point at the same local mean solar time.

Reconnaissance satellite of US

These satellites are being launched from 1961. They are controlled and operated by NRO, that is, National Reconnaissance Office. Every year, the NRO launches several numbers of satellites. The office designs, builds, operate reconnaissance satellites. The reconnaissance satellites are used for military purposes and intelligence applications.

Recent SpaceX launches

Recently SpaceX launched the Italian CSG-2. It was an earth observation satellite. Also, SpaceX is to launch 49 of its starlink satellites from the Kennedy space center of NASA. NROL-87 was the fifth launch of SpaceX in 2022. And it is the 143^rd orbital launch and 105^th booster landing. Usually satellite launching is expensive. But still, the company is able to make frequent launches mainly because of its Falcon rocket. The first stage of the rocket is reusable. That is after placing the satellite in its orbit, it returns to earth to carry another satellite. This makes satellite launch inexpensive for SpaceX.

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