Thor 8 is a multi-purpose communications satellite for Space Norway. The satellite will both replace older satellites being phased out in the coming years and provide increased capacity and service offerings that offers capacity for both data services and broadcasting, such as high power direct-to-home (DTH) television services, from the 1° West orbital position. It carries two dedicated payloads for broadcasting in Europe and the Nordics, as well as payloads for data services to commercial and governmental customers. With a launch mass of 4 metric tons, the satellite will be built on Thales Alenia Space’s Spacebus-4000B2 platform and will operate in the Ka and Ku frequency bands.
Geostationary Transfer OrbitThe Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) is a NASA Earth science mission led by Colorado State University that will investigate the behavior of tropical storms in order to better represent these storms in weather and climate models. It consists of 3 SmallSats flying in tight coordination to study why convective storms, heavy precipitation, and clouds occur exactly when and where they form. Each satellite will have a high frequency precipitation radar that observes rapid changes in convective cloud depth and intensities. 1 of the 3 satellites also will carry a microwave radiometer to provide the spatial content of the larger scale weather observed by the radars. By flying so closely together, the satellites will use the slight differences in when they make observations to apply a novel time-differencing approach to estimate the vertical transport of convective mass.
Low Earth OrbitXuntian, formerly known as the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST), is a Chinese space telescope designed to perform high-resolution, large-area, multi-band imaging and slit-less spectroscopy surveys of the sky at ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths of 255 – 1000 nm. The survey camera is slated to cover approximately 17500 square degrees of the sky in various bands, reaching maximum magnitudes of about 26. Xuntian will carry a survey camera, a tera-hertz receiver, a multi-channel imager, an integral field spectrograph, and a cool planet imaging coronagraph. Xuntian will be launched to a Low Earth Orbit that will be co-orbiting with the Tiangong space station/Chinese Space Station, which will allow for periodic docking with the station for regular maintenance by astronauts.
Low Earth OrbitSpace Machines Company (SMC)'s second Optimus Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), will launch on a mission designated Space MAITRI (Mission for Australia-India’s Technology, Research and Innovation). The mission will focus on debris management and sustainability, and will significantly advance Australia’s domestic space industry by combining Australian spacecraft capabilities with India's launch expertise. After separation, Optimus will perform a series of propulsive on-orbit maneuvers to inspect a space object in close proximity. It will then spend several months on orbit examining space debris to demonstrate affordable and accessible space sustainability technologies.
Low Earth OrbitKatalyst Space Technologies' robotic space vehicle NEXUS-1 will dock with other satellites to install hardware, reposition spacecraft, and extend mission life, offering a faster, lower-cost alternative to replacement of satellites. NEXUS-1 will begin delivering these services through initial government missions before supporting commercial operators. Initial operations include installing a sensor on a Space Force satellite to detect and identify nearby spacecraft and conducting additional rendezvous and proximity operations to support space domain awareness. Following these missions, NEXUS-1 will transition to commercial servicing operations for communications satellite operators seeking to maintain and upgrade spacecraft already in orbit.
Geostationary OrbitNote: Mission profile and payload details are TBD. Demonstration mission for SpaceX’s Project Starfall, which aims to mass-produce reentry capsule…
Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
VICTUS HAZE will see Rocket Lab design, build, launch, and operate a rendezvous proximity operation (RPO) capable spacecraft. U.S. Space Force Space …
Fourteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…
Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…
Note: Unofficial reports indicate there may be 1 or more additional satellites that failed to separate from the upper stage, however this is not offi…
A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes (officially described for "spatial environment detection" purposes).