The National Reconnaissance Office launched its eighth batch of satellites to support its proliferated architecture constellation. The mission includes a number of notable milestones for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket program, including a record-fast turnaround time for its booster.
The rocket carried an unspecified number of satellites that are believed to be Starshield, a government variant of the Starlink satellites that are built by SpaceX in partnership with Northrop Grumman. This was SpaceX’s 450th Falcon 9 launch to date.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened on March 20 at 11:49 p.m. PDT (2:49 a.m. EDT, 0649 UTC on March 21). This was the second launch this year supporting the architecture, following NROL-153 in January.
SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1088. This was its fourth launch after previously supporting the flights of NROL-126, a combination of Starlink and Starshield satellites; the Transporter-12 smallsat ride-share mission, which included 131 satellites and NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH ride-share mission.
The last of those lifted off on March 12, just nine days before the launch of NROL-57 on Thursday night. With this launch, SpaceX handily beat the former record for turnaround of a Falcon 9 first stage booster, which was set by B1080 at 13.5 days.
Emphasis mine. The Falcon 9 is rapidly approaching the most optimistic reusability projections ever made for the space shuttle. Whether this will ultimately translate to cost reductions still remains to be seen, but the rapid increase in number of satellites launched over the past few years is highly suggestive.
