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CAPE CANAVERAL

SILENTBARKER
NRO Mission

For more than sixty years, the NRO has 

developed, acquired, launched and operated 

the satellites that are the foundation for 

America’s advantage and strength in space. 

Using a diversified and resilient architecture 

of spacecraft, NRO collects and delivers the 

best space-based intelligence, surveillance, 

and reconnaissance content on the planet. 

NRO data supports the National Security 

Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence 

Agency, and other NRO mission partners 

to produce intelligence products for the 

President, Congress, national policymakers, 

warfighters, and civil users. The NRO’s 

hybrid overhead architecture is designed 

to provide global coverage against a wide 

range of intelligence requirements, carry out 

research and development efforts, and assist 

emergency and disaster-relief efforts in the 

U.S. and around the world.

Photos Courtesy ULA
SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 LAUNCH PRESS KIT | 1

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SILENTBARKER

NRO and the U.S. Space Force (USSF) have a shared interest 

to strengthen the nation’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and 

Indications & Warning (I&W) capabilities. Strengthening these 

capabilities will be vital to defend Department of Defense (DoD) 

and Intelligence Community (IC) critical capabilities against 

current and projected threats.

SILENTBARKER is a joint NRO and USSF SDA mission to meet 

DoD and IC space protection needs and is designed to detect 

and maintain custody of space objects. This capability 

enables I&W of threats against high-value assets in 

geosynchronous orbit. 

NRO and USSF have been collaborating on SDA to enable 

effective defense of space capabilities. By working together, 

NRO can leverage its Intelligence, Surveillance, and 

Reconnaissance acquisition capabilities while USSF can 

provide SDA mission expertise, which increases overall mission 

capability and leverages opportunities for cost efficiency. 

Additionally, SILENTBARKER shows the flexibility inherent in the 

acquisition approaches NRO uses to deliver timely capabilities 

to our users by launching this mission three years from Critical 

Design Review. 

For future missions, NRO and USSF are working hand-in-hand 

to shape the future of space-based Ground Moving Target 

Indicators, which will provide day, night, all-weather detection 

and tracking of ground and maritime targets for the warfighter.

The SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 patch: 

The Delta shape is pointing the way 

to better space domain knowledge. 

The fox represents the cunning nature 

of the IC and DoD that gives our 

warfighters the edge against America’s 

adversaries. The fox in motion 

represents agile operations in the 

space domain. The combined moon 

and stars represent the commitment 

of the IC and DoD to be always on 

guard to protect American interests 

and freedom. The moon is a waxing 

crescent, symbolizing we are not done 

and there is still work ahead of us. 

The two deltas symbolize the 

partnership between the U.S. Space 

Force and NRO.

To read more about NRO launches and 

previous patches, 

visit www.NRO.gov
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SILENTBARKER

2 | SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 LAUNCH PRESS KIT

PAYLOAD 

FAIRING

CENTAUR 

Forward Load 

Reactors

SPACECRAFT

ATLAS V 

BOOSTER

SOLID ROCKET 

BOOSTERS

RD-180 

ENGINE

RL10C-1-1 

ENGINE

Rocket & Launch Facts

Payload Fairing (PLF)

The 5.4 m diameter short PLF is a sandwich composite 

structure made with a vented aluminum-honeycomb core 

and graphite-epoxy face sheets. The bisector (two-piece shell) 

PLF encapsulates both the Centaur upper stage and the 

spacecraft, which separates using a debris-free pyrotechnic 

actuating system.

Centaur

The Centaur upper stage is 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and 

12.6 m (41.5 ft) long. Centaur is a liquid hydrogen/liquid 

oxygen-fueled vehicle. It uses a single RL10 engine producing 

106 kilo-Newtons (23,825 lbf) of thrust. 

Booster

The Atlas V booster is 3.8 m (12.5 ft) in diameter and 32.5 m 

(106.5 ft) long. Propulsion is provided by the RD-180 engine 

system (a single engine with two thrust chambers). The 

RD-180 burns RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or highly purified 

kerosene) and liquid oxygen. It delivers 3.83 mega-Newtons 

(860,200 lbf) of thrust at sea level. 

The solid rocket boosters (SRBs), with a diameter of 160 cm 

(63 in) and a length of 20.1 m (66 ft), are constructed of a 

graphite-epoxy composite with the throttle profile designed 

into the propellant grain. The SRBs are jettisoned by thrusters 

following a burn lasting approximately a minute and a half.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rockets have delivered vital 

national security missions across the globe since 2002. 

The Atlas V configuration is comprised of a booster, a 

Centaur upper stage, and a 5.4 meter diameter short 

payload fairing (PLF). This Atlas employs five additional 

solid rocket boosters to augment the first-stage booster.

CENTAUR
LAUNCH HISTORY

The first Atlas was developed as an ICBM and was launched December 1957.

SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 is NRO’s last Atlas V launching under the 

National Security Space Launch phase-1A contract. 

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Site Info

Space Launch Complex-41 

SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 will launch from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space 

Force Station, Florida. SLC-41’s first launch was in 1965 for TITAN III and TITAN IV launches and retrofitted to 

support Atlas V launches begininning in 2002. SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 will be the 18th and final NRO 

Atlas V launching from Cape Canaveral.
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Recent Success

The NRO is the best in the world at providing 

overhead intelligence, surveillance, and 

reconnaissance to more than half a million 

government users —including every member of 

the Intelligence Community, two dozen domestic 

agencies, our nation’s military, lawmakers, and 

decision makers.

In June 2023, NRO launched the NROL-68 mission, 

the penultimate Delta IV Heavy rocket, from Cape 

Canaveral Space Force Station, FL.

Visit www.NRO.gov to view 

launch press releases.

NROL-68, June 22, 2023
5

Future Launches

Additional information on upcoming launches will be 

made available at www.NRO.gov.

WWW.NRO.GOV

MEDIA@NRO.MIL

703.808.1198

 @NATIONALRECONNAISSANCEOFFICE

@NATRECONOFC

@NATRECONOFC 

FOLLOW ON TWITTER FOR LIVE UPDATES 

ON LAUNCH DAY

NATIONALRECONNAISSANCEOFFICE
NRO/OPA [10210] ID 4.23