During the Cold War, if you asked anyone who worked at the supersecret NRO what they did for a living, you might have gotten the "I-could-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you" line. But in 1992, the National Reconnaissance Office, which since 1962 has operated the nation's spy satellites, finally declassified the fact of its existence. Since then, the NRO has divulged some of its early operations, and it routinely announces upcoming launches of secret payloads.
Now the NRO has learned a new step in its pas de deux with glasnost. At a press conference on 22 September at the agency's heavily guarded compound in Chantilly, Virginia, NRO officials lifted the veil for a peek at their Space Technology Experiment, set to launch on 1 October. The spacecraft will test 29 technologies, including an electric propulsion system that could lighten a satellite's fuel burden, more efficient solar arrays, and new release mechanisms that jolt payloads much less than current explosive-based devices.
Talking up even these unclassified technologies marks a cultural shift for NRO. "It's different for folks inside of NRO because they do tremendous scientific and engineering work, but they can't tell anybody about it--in a lot of cases not even their own families," says NRO spokesperson Richard Oborn. How about detailed briefings on new spy satellites? "I don't expect we will [do that] in my lifetime," Oborn says.
