US Navy experimental SPEAR-1 power and reconnaissance satellite reaches orbit on SpaceX Transporter-17 rideshare from Vandenberg
The US Navy just placed an experimental power-and-reconnaissance satellite in orbit. On July 7 a SpaceX Falcon 9 flew the Transporter-17 rideshare from Vandenberg carrying SPEAR-1, or Space Power and Energy Advanced Recon, built by NearSpace Launch for the Naval Research Laborato
The US military added a new experimental satellite to orbit this week. Early on July 7, a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Transporter-17 rideshare mission, deploying dozens of commercial and government satellites from around the world into a Sun-synchronous orbit. Among the payloads was SPEAR-1, short for Space Power and Energy Advanced Recon, a satellite developed by NearSpace Launch under a contract from the Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense. It flies as part of a three-spacecraft constellation built on NearSpace Launch's ThinSat architecture, a low-cost small-satellite design intended to test capabilities quickly and at scale. Rideshare missions like Transporter-17 let the Pentagon and its research labs fly experimental hardware alongside dozens of commercial satellites, sharing launch costs and shortening the path from contract to orbit. For the Naval Research Laboratory, small experimental spacecraft are a way to trial power and sensing technologies in space before committing to larger, more expensive programs. Military and research payloads increasingly share these commercial rideshare flights to reach orbit faster and at lower cost.