Iridium Satellite LLC seeks an experimental license for a 24 month period, beginning February 1, 2026, to transmit in the 1618.725-1626.5 MHz band from its space stations to an experimental cubesat, known as “R5-S10,” to be operated by NASA.NASA’s R5 program seeks to demonstrate technology and risk reduction efforts to advance in-space inspection technologies. The R5-S10 seeks to perform inspection like maneuvers including following an orbit transfer vehicle using its propulsion system to maintain a constant distance. It will perform other secondary maneuvers after departing the OTV for the remainder of its lifetime. NASA has received authority from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to operate the cubesat.
Alba Orbital announces today that Spinning Around, the Edinburgh-based start-up developing tailor-made gravitational environments for life science, is Alba’s latest client for their upcoming February 2026 SpaceX launch. Alba Orbital will deploy Spinning Around’s in-orbit tech demonstrator, via their own AlbaPod deployer, on board a 2P PocketQube developed by Madrid-based pico-satellite manufacturer, Hydra Space Systems S.L. The satellite will also be open to the amateur radio community and operation will be done by AMSAT-EA. Website: amsat-ea.orgThis tech demonstrator proves the foundational operational architecture in Spinning Around’s roadmap towards delivering a critical, accessible & affordable platform for the orbital life science industry, previously largely inaccessible due to cost and logistical constraints. [...]SpinnyONE’s main onboard components consist of bespoke microcircuitry designed and tested in-house, running camera and lighting modules. The camera will capture images of the deployed payload and radio-transmit those images back to base throughout its mission. Ahead of Spinning Around opening up for its first round of seed funding, SpinnyONE will prove the viability of the software and microcircuitry components for future scalable & stackable CubeSat launches housing life science experiments, as well as proving the logistical and financial viability of the inter-European satellite manufacture pipeline - working across Edinburgh, Glasgow, Madrid and all the way into space. SpinnyONE delivers the backbone of Spinning Around’s orbital microlabs which will record and transmit experiment data & images in-orbit to ground bases, information accessible to all the life scientists that book their experiments on future missions.
Last October 23rd, Hydra Space Systems visited Instituto Universitario "Ignacio Da Riva" (IDR/UPM) facilities to carry out the Environmental Test Plan for the SpinnyONE satellite.During the morning, we successfully performed the Random Vibration and Power Inhibit tests in line with SpaceX’s Rideshare Payload User’s Guide (RPUG) — a key step validating the platform and demonstrating that it’s ready for flight.
A 1.5 PocketQube. HADES-SA / SpinnyONE is a satellite operated by AMSAT-EA members to promote the use of CODEC2 voice and SSDV in satellite communications, both of which are open protocols. As secondary objectives, the satellite is also intended to test its Doppler-resistant modem and a new antenna deployment mechanism. The satellite includes a BBS that allows amateurs to send text messages and, optionally, upload CODEC2 recordings for transmission by the satellite. A sample CODEC2 transmission has been pre-recorded in Flash memory until new transmissions from Earth arrive. HADES-SA / SpinnyONE includes a digital camera provided (along with its dedicated software) by the UK-based company Spinning Around.The camera will capture images of the deployment mechanism —which contains a small commemorative plaque— as well as whatever lies within its field of view at that moment. Every three days, a new picture will be taken and transmitted to the ground using the SSDV protocol. Image transmissions will occur continuously every few minutes so that stations worldwide can receive the frames. In the event of a camera failure, an internally stored image will be transmitted instead. Planning a launch on Transporter 16 from Vandenberg approx 14/03/2026 into a 523 x 512 km polar orbit. More info at https://www.amsat-ea.org/proyectos
The satellite will be launched on SpaceX's Transporter 16 mission in March. As with previous missions, the satellite will not be deployed directly but rather from an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV), in this case from the company SEOPS.
Integration for our next launch has started today with Spinning Around and Hydra Space Systems!
AMSAT EA will launch another satellite in March 2026. With HADES-SA, also known by its mission name SpinnyONE, the HADES fleet will expand alongside HADES-R (SO-124) and HADES-ICM (SO-125). [...]HADES-SA will be launched as part of the SpaceX Transporter-16 mission. As with previous AMSAT-EA missions, the satellite will not be deployed directly, but will first be integrated into an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) and then placed into its final orbit by the SEOPS OTV.
Alba Orbital, the world’s leading PocketQube satellite launch provider, is proud to announce a new partnership with Upkoi, a privately funded company working to develop a platform for quantum computing in space. Upkoi’s mission serves as a proof-of-concept flight, designed to test and characterize essential supporting systems that will underpin future iterations of their orbital computing platform. The satellite will carry an experimental quantum hardware payload alongside custom control electronics and software, focused on characterizing how the system behaves in the space environment. The mission will launch to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as part of Alba Orbital’s upcoming Q1 2026 launch, deployed via Alba’s AlbaPod system, subject to regulatory approval.[...]As part of this research, the mission includes a secondary objective to test on-orbit reinforcement learning in a tightly constrained, nonsafety critical setting. Upkoi aims to determine whether onboard models can assist in tuning the payload’s sensitive control systems.The 1P PocketQube form factor closely matches the size requirements for Upkoi’s current isolated core architecture. This picosatellite offers a cost-effective platform for rapid iteration, allowing Upkoi to refine the hardware stack that could eventually support demanding AI and optimization workloads. If early tests are successful, future missions may explore more complex multi-qubit systems and investigate how small satellites could be networked to work together as a larger distributed computing resource. These concepts remain exploratory and will depend on technical, regulatory, and operational outcomes.
The overall goal of the SNAPPY mission is to characterize the space radiation that can be found outside the Van Allen belts when in orbit above the north and south poles. We are interested in the radiation that meets certain timing and energy requirements, because this radiation will be a background for an eventual solar probe mission to look for solar neutrinos. The satellite can also double as a space weather detector and gamma ray burst detector. The satellite will be launched as a secondary payload aboard Transporter-16. (SpaceX Falcon-9), from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA, during a launch window that starts on April 1, 2026. It will be inserted into a sun-synchronous orbit at 500 km apogee altitude and 500 km perigee altitude, on an inclination from the equator of 97.75 degrees. Transmission will begin at least 120 minutes after deployment and cease two years after launch. Atmospheric friction will slow the satellite and reduce the altitude of the orbit, until de-orbiting occurs about 7 years after launch. See the Orbital Debris Assessment Report for details. The spacecraft is a single unit with the dimensions of 34.5 cm X 10 cm X 10 cm when in the stowed configuration. When deployed after launch, the total length is 44.5 cm and the deployed solar panel makes the width of the satellite 17.5 cm when measured along the y- face. The total mass is about 5.8 kg.
Recognizing the fact that a solar neutrino detector has never flown in space, the Phase-III part of the NIAC project focuses on the development of a CubeSat to validate the operation of a prototype detector in near-Earth space. It is important to note here that in near-Earth environment, a small sized CubeSat-class detector will not be able to detect any solar neutrino. However, the CubeSat mission provides opportunities to validate the detector with respect to its interaction with cosmic rays (background).
The Solar Neutrino and Astro-Particle PhYsics (SNAPPY) Cubesat is expected to launch in 2025 and it will carry into a polar orbit a prototype test detector for solar neutrino background studies while over the Earth’s poles for the neutrino Solar Orbiting Laboratory future project (νSOL).
Gravitas01 Full 20kW satellite02 12 Payloads03 LEO to MEO orbit raiseLaunch Date: March 2026Status: Preparing for launch
Investors commit quarter-billion dollars to startup designing “Giga” satellites12 dec 2025[...]The company’s first “Mega Class” satellite is named Gravitas. It is scheduled to launch in March 2026 on a Falcon 9 rocket. Once in orbit, Gravitas will test several systems that are fundamental to K2’s growth strategy. One is a 2o-kilowatt Hall-effect thruster that K2 says will be four times more powerful than any such thruster flown to date. Gravitas will also deploy twin solar arrays capable of generating 20 kilowatts of power.[...]
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS), a U.S. commercial space company offering satellite buses, satellite components, and in-space infrastructure services, today announced the successful completion of Environmental Testing of its Vigoride-7 Orbital Service Vehicle, scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX's Transporter-16 mission targeted for launch no earlier than March 2026. Vigoride 7 is scheduled to carry payloads for several customers, including the U.S. Defense Department, NASA, and commercial customers, that will generate new revenue.The rigorous testing campaign includedThermal Testing, which simulated the extreme temperature swings of space to validate spacecraft performance and reliability; andVibration Testing conducted at Experior Laboratories, which exposed Vigoride-7 to the mechanical stresses of launch conditions.Tom Malko, SVP Engineering and Operations of Momentus, commented:“Completing thermal and vibration testing is a critical milestone for Vigoride-7. These campaigns validate that our spacecraft can withstand the demanding conditions of launch and the space environment, giving our customers confidence in mission success.”Momentus continues to advance its vision of providing flexible, affordable, and reliable in-space transportation and services, supporting the growing demand for satellite deployment, orbital logistics, and pioneering in-space assembly missions.
The overall goal of the TROOP-F3 mission, to do on orbit testing of the IRIDIUM 9704 modem.The satellite will be launched as a secondary payload aboard Transporter 16, from Vandenburg Airforce Base, launching no earlier than March 15, 2026. It will be inserted into an orbit at 510 km apogee and 510 km perigee, on an inclination from the equator of 98 degrees. Transmission will begin 90 minutes after deploy, and cease at the end of the mission 6 months later. Atmospheric friction will slow the satellite and reduce the altitude of the orbit, until de-orbiting occurs 2.9 years after launch. See the Orbital Debris Assessment Report for details. The spacecraft is a single unit with the dimensions of CubeSat module (giving an overall dimension of 10 cm X 10 cm X 15.9 cm.) The total mass is about 1.3 Kg.
Train Rapid On Payload (TROOP) is hosted payload program launching on commercial launch providers every 3 to 6 months. Each TROOP offers four (4x) payload slots that allow customers quick and regular access to orbit.
Iridium Satellite LLC hereby requests an experimental license for a period of twelve (12) months, beginning on March 9, 2026, to transmit from its space stations in the 1618.725–1626.5 MHz band1 to the FGN-100-d3 cubesat authorized by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority of Türkiye and operated by Fergani Space Technologies.The goal of the FGN-100-d3 mission is to demonstrate and validate technologies for a future low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. The FGN-100-d3 will have onboard two NSL EyeStar S4 (Iridium model 9603) modems that Fergani will use to communicate with the Iridium constellation.
Date: Q1/2026Mission Type: T16 / AcademicOrbit: SSOUnits: 6U
The satellite constellation will be established in two phases: the first phase consists of the satellite launched this time and another satellite scheduled to be launched next March, which will mainly verify the communication payload. The second phase will begin after the launch of the other two satellites next June and will include the verification of inter-satellite communication capabilitie
Looking ahead, Rapidtek will continue its LEO satellite constellation program, launching three more 8U IoT CubeSats from the Startup CubeSat Program in 2026. These satellites will not only serve as technology tests but also demonstrate Taiwan’s capabilities in LEO communications. The constellation will help establish an initial LEO IoT network for real-time data transfer from ground to space.
German space startup TALOS and Bulgarian satellite manufacturer EnduroSat have partnered up to build the ICARUS 2.0 satellite constellation. The mission – which is also known as the “Internet of Animals” – is a research project of the leading German science institution Max Planck Society that aims to monitor wildlife movements and environmental changes through advanced satellite technology. TALOS has been closely involved in the ICARUS project as a core technology partner for some time. With EnduroSat as a new industrial partner, it is now implementing the build-up of its own constellation.Following the successful launch of a technology demonstrator in November 2025, the operational build-up of the constellation has now begun. The launch of the first operational satellite, named RAVEN, is scheduled for early this year. By the end of 2026 / beginning of 2027, four further satellites will complement the constellation which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space and the German Space Agency at DLR. Once fully deployed, the system will provide up to five daily updates on tracked animals around the globe.Raycho Raychev, Founder and CEO of EnduroSat, said: “We are excited to enable the deployment of space infrastructure that delivers vital data about the state of wildlife and biodiversity. This project demonstrates how space data could help address our Planet’s most pressing challenges.” [...]The first satellite of the constellation is a so called 6U CubeSat, a compact satellite about the size of a shoebox. It is equipped with software-defined radio, which will receive data from small tracking tags attached to animals and transmit it back to Earth. These monitor changes in location, temperature, humidity, pressure, and acceleration, providing critical insights for conservation and ecological research. The satellite is being produced in Sofia and is scheduled to be launched in February.
🚀 Successful space qualification of our first ICARUS 2.0 flight model payload! After months of dedicated work, our flight model payload for the next-generation ICARUS 2.0 constellation has successfully passed space qualification and acceptance testing - without a single issue. We are delighted that our payload is now fully qualified for space. We conducted our test campaign at the facilities of our friends at Morpheus Space, who are propelling the future of space mobility with their GO-2 Electric Propulsion system. We’re happy to team up with fellow innovators and contribute to a thriving, collaborative space community. The next step: the payload will be delivered to our satellite integrator, where it will become part of the RAVEN satellite, scheduled for launch already in March next year. RAVEN is the pathfinder satellite of our constellation, serving as the reference model for all future spacecraft to come.
0165-EX-ST-2026 [Jan 23]
