NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE

14675 Lee Road

Chantilly, VA 20151-1715

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #08-12

Contact: (703) 808-5050 July 30, 2012

NROL-36 Features Auxiliary Payloads

On August 2, 2012 the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is scheduled to launch 

NROL-36 from Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex-3E. NROL-36 is 

the last of four NRO launches in 2012. The NRO Office of Space Launch has worked 

closely with the primary mission team to take advantage of the extra performance 

capability, volume and structural capacity on the Atlas V launch vehicle to make this 

launch the first NRO rideshare mission. The auxiliary payload is not only the first of its

kind for the NRO but for any Atlas V mission. As such, it will pave the way for many 

more rideshare opportunities on Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) class 

missions.

“We have long recognized that there are benefits and efficiencies to be gained through 

rideshare in space launch,” said Ms. Betty Sapp, Director National Reconnaissance 

Office. “These benefits include opportunities to conduct scientific research and 

demonstrate and apply emerging technologies through the use of small satellites.”

United Launch Alliance (ULA), launch provider for NROL-36, redesigned the Atlas V 

Centaur upper stage pressure system providing more volume and structural capacity on 

the aft-bulkhead of the upper stage. The NRO and ULA partnered to develop an Aft 

Bulkhead Carrier (ABC), which will be used on this mission to affix the Operationally 

Unique Technologies Satellite, or OUTSat. The OUTSat consists of 11 CubeSats 

integrated into Poly-Picosat Orbital Deployers (P-PODS) that are in turn integrated into 

the Naval Postgraduate School CubeSat Launcher (NPSCuL). 

The NRO funded the NPS to develop NPSCuL, which is an auxiliary payload platform 

that can attach multiple P-PODS to a single adaptor and allows up to 24 single-unit (1U)

CubeSats to be launched. The CubeSats on OUTSat are sponsored by either the NRO 

Mission Support Directorate (MSD) or NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) and 

were developed and tested by a number of laboratories and universities working closely 

with their government sponsor and/or customer/user. The CubeSats are set to deploy 

after primary spacecraft activities take place to demonstrate cutting edge technologies, 

conduct unique scientific experiments and prove high tech operational concepts. 

Seven NRO-sponsored CubeSats:

 Two developed by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, called SMDC 

1.1 and SMDC 1.2, with communication demonstrations supporting the tactical 

warfighter; 
 Two from Aerospace Corp., called AeroCube 4a and 4b, will implement a 

smallsat communications tech demo;

 One from Aerospace Corp., called AeroCube 4, consisting of a launch vehicle 

environment data logger and deorbit device demonstration;

 One developed by University of South California, called AENEAS, which is a 

maritime shipping container tracking mission demonstration; 

 One from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, called Re, with a space flight safety 

and orbit refinement pathfinder mission. 

Four NASA-sponsored CubeSats:

 One developed by University of Colo., called CSSWE with a space weather 

mission; 

 One from Cal Poly, called CP5, studying debris mitigation; 

 One from Morehead State University, called CXBN, studying space weather; 

 One from USC Berkeley, called Cinema, with a space environment mission.

The NRO is a joint Department of Defense-Intelligence Community organization 

responsible for developing, launching, and operating America’s signals, imagery, and 

communications intelligence satellites to meet the national security needs of our nation. 

-NRO-