Rocket carrying U.S. spy satellites launches into space

Four of the CubeSats are NASA-sponsored and nine are NRO-sponsored, one of which was developed with NASA funding.

Not much can be said about the secretive NROL-55 mission, which is classified.

The NRO CubeSat funded by NASA will be used to examine laser-based data transfer. The miniature spacecraft, sponsored by the NRO and NASA, will test assorted technology and is in support of national defense, ULA officials said.

NASA will have two prelaunch briefings in Vandenberg on Wednesday, October 7.

Five other NRO cubesats, which range in weight from 4.4 lbs.to 10 lbs.

NASA is exploring if the small satellites, which typically weigh about 2.2 pounds (1 kg) and can be outfitted with cameras, sensors and other instruments, are suited for interplanetary missions and other space operations. (1 kg) each, will perform calibration measurements in the ionosphere, a region of Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Small satellites, including CubeSats, are playing an increasingly larger role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA.

The 2.2-lb ARC-1, which was developed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, will help test out new cubesat control and communications systems. NASA’s CubeSats are the first to be designed and fabricated by Alaskan students and students from Native American tribal colleges.

Three of the NRO cubesats are part of a project called SNaP-3, “whose mission is to develop user software-defined radios to provide beyond-line-of-sight communication for disadvantaged users in remote locations”, according to an NRO fact sheet.

The 2.2-lb. AMSAT Fox-1 was developed by the Maryland-based Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (3 kg) spacecraft created to demonstrate a new type of transponder that could help cubesats navigate through deep space, far from Earth.