News | Oct. 3, 2024

NRO driving “generational change” through innovation

The National Reconnaissance Office is driving “generational change” as it develops innovative ways to collect and deliver critical information from its vantage point in space.

“We're constantly improving as either the technology comes along, or the threat changes, or the mission changes to some extent,” said Dr. Chris Scolese, director of the NRO. “That allows us to move at a much, much higher pace than we had in the past.”

Dr. Scolese discussed these innovations Thursday during a conversation hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).



The NRO’s most notable change is in the ongoing proliferation of its overhead architecture, expanding from dozens of satellites on orbit to hundreds over the next decade and building the largest government constellation in history. Over 18 months from June 2023 through December 2024, the NRO is putting more than 100 payloads into orbit. Much of these advances are driven by partnerships with the commercial sector.

“It allows us to provide the information at a very high rate of speed and deliver it directly to the user,” Dr. Scolese said.

As the number of satellites on orbit expands, the technology for processing data is also growing. The NRO is using artificial intelligence and machine learning, while also beginning to develop on-orbit processing of data and even exploring the use of quantum sensing. Dr. Scolese said the NRO’s advanced technology group and its new Space Reconnaissance Lab, as well as other partnerships with academia, are pursuing those opportunities; a Tech Forum the NRO is hosting Oct. 17-18 in Chantilly, Va., offers an unclassified venue for building relationships and discussing innovative research.

“It’s in our DNA to work with the community at the leading edge of technology,” Dr. Scolese said. “And it's a two-way street. They're developing capabilities, whether it's new math models or new technologies, and we want to be engaged in working with them.”