The primary purpose of the SDS satellites is to relay imagery from low-flying reconnaissance satellites, notably the Keyhole optical reconnaissance and Lacrosse/Onyx radar reconnaissance satellites to ground stations in the United States.
Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. It was designed to launch payloads into low earth orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit or geosynchronous orbit. Sixty-three launches of the Atlas II, IIA and IIAS models were carried out between 1991 and 2004; all sixty-three launches were successes, making the Atlas II the most reliable launch system in history.
Lockheed Martin's Space Division started in the production of missiles and later ICBM's in the 1950s. Their TITAN missile system was used for 12 Gemini spacecraft and the Voyager probes. They have worked largely in collaboration with NASA on many of their probes, landers, and spacecraft, and hope to play a key role in NASA's return to the moon in 2024.
INFO WIKINew high resolution Earth observation satellite for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellites constellation.
A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Payload consists of a single SAR Earth-imaging Acadia satellite, a new generation satellite designed, manufactured, and operated by Capella Space.
Chinese reconnaissance satellites.
A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Soyuz MS-24 carried two cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in K…
Third flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying a payload for the US Department of Defense.
A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Classified space situational awareness (SSA) payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
3 Chinese reconnaissance satellites of unknown purposes, officially reported as for "Electromagnetic environment probing" purposes.