New space race begins! US launches spy satellites as China plans 200,000-satellite orbital fleet

California: SpaceX kicked off its first national security launch of 2026 on Friday night, sending a new batch of U.S. spy satellites into orbit as Washington accelerates efforts to build a next-generation space surveillance network.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:39 p.m. EST (8:39 p.m. local time), beginning the classified NROL-105 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NRO, a part of the Department of Defence, operates the US fleet of spy satellites.

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The launch marks another step in deploying the NRO’s ambitious “proliferated architecture” — a vast constellation of smaller, low-cost reconnaissance satellites designed for speed, flexibility and resilience.

NROL-105 is the 12th mission dedicated to constructing this new orbital network. Unlike traditional large spy satellites, the proliferated architecture relies on hundreds of smaller spacecraft that can be deployed rapidly and replaced easily if disabled.

“Having hundreds of small satellites on orbit is invaluable to the NRO's mission,” NRO Director Chris Scolese said in the NROL-105 press kit. “They will provide greater revisit rates, increased coverage, more timely delivery of information, and ultimately help us deliver more of what our customers need even faster.”

The satellites for the program are being built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, and all have so far been launched aboard Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg. The first mission in the series, NROL-146, lifted off in May 2024.

Friday’s launch was also SpaceX’s seventh mission of 2026. Four of those flights have been dedicated to expanding the company’s Starlink broadband constellation, underlining SpaceX’s growing dual role in both commercial connectivity and national security operations.

A new orbital race?

The latest U.S. deployment comes as China signals plans for an unprecedented expansion in Earth’s orbit. The Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation in China has filed a request with the International Telecommunications Union to operate two satellite constellations, each consisting of 96,714 satellites, totalling nearly 200,000 spacecraft in low Earth orbit.

It remains unclear what specific purpose these Chinese constellations would serve. But if launched, they would dwarf all existing satellite networks combined, dramatically reshaping the strategic and commercial balance in space.

The constellations, called CTC-1 and CTC-2 and backed by the Chinese government, would each contain 96,714 satellites spread over an eye-watering 3660 orbits.