Future Timeline

weatheriscool wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 2:41 pm

weatheriscool wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 2:12 pm

SpaceX has leveraged its reusable Falcon 9 rockets to become the world's largest satellite operator in just a few short years. Its Starlink network provides internet connectivity across a large swath of the globe, and it has plans for a secure government version of the network. A report from Reuters claims that part of that effort is a $1.8 billion contract to build a spy satellite network for the US government, and China is not pleased.

Elon Musk's aerospace firm announced the encrypted Starshield system in 2022, aiming to provide the US government with communication, hosted payloads, and Earth observation. According to Reuters, the contract was signed in 2021, before the public announcement of Starshield. Under the agreement, SpaceX will build hundreds of classified spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).