{"id":915198,"date":"2026-09-30T10:27:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915198\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T10:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:27:04","slug":"spacex-transporter-18-to-carry-three-canadian-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/915198\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Transporter-18 to carry three Canadian satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"

A SpaceX Transporter-18 rideshare<\/a> flight will carry two GHGSat methane-monitoring satellites and NordSpace\u2019s first spacecraft into orbit on Thursday, along with 127 other reported payloads.<\/p>\n

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, with a 58-minute window opening at 11:18 a.m. Pacific time on Oct. 1. SpaceX has a backup opportunity on Oct. 2. Of the 130 payloads, SpaceX says<\/a> 41 of the payloads will be released later, from four orbital transfer vehicles. There are also two spacecraft with reentry vehicles.<\/p>\n

GHGSat flies again<\/p>\n

GHGSat, the Montreal company that tracks methane leaks from orbit, is flying satellites C18 and C19, named Eleanor and Aidan. Its previous pair, built by Spire Global, flew on Transporter-17 and returned their first methane detections<\/a> within weeks.<\/p>\n

These two new satellites were built by SFL Missions which was contracted last November<\/a> to build both in Toronto on its NEMO platform, a satellite of about 15 kilograms. SFL also manifested their place on the launch.<\/p>\n

NordSpace\u2019s first satellite<\/p>\n

NordSpace, which is building rockets and a launch site in Newfoundland and Labrador, among other projects, is flying its first satellite. Terra Nova was built at the company\u2019s Space Systems Lab in Markham, Ont. NordSpace calls it a dual-use defence and commercial demonstrator. It carries the company\u2019s own spacecraft platform, an electric thruster and a camera that analyzes images on board using an NVIDIA processor. Planned tasks<\/a> range from tracking objects in orbit to spotting wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerra Nova represents far more than a satellite for NordSpace,\u201d the company said in a Feb. 5 post on X<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the embodiment of our sovereign end-to-end space missions vision for Canada, allowing us to walk in the shoes of our future launch customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The satellite was manifested by Exolaunch, the Berlin company that prepares and deploys satellites for rideshare customers.<\/p>\n

Deployment timeline and other Canadian payloads<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s timeline has the two GHGSat satellites separating about 55 minutes after liftoff, and Terra Nova about four minutes later.<\/p>\n

There were two other Canadian payloads that at one-time were linked to this flight. They were university CubeSats, funded through the Canadian Space Agency\u2019s CubeSats Initiative in Canada for STEM (CUBICS). SpaceQ reported in August that the University of Alberta\u2019s Ex-Alta 3 and McMaster University\u2019s PRESET could fly on Transporter-18. These satellites are manifested by Exolaunch through the Canadian Space Agency. We don\u2019t have a new date Ex-Alta 3, but an update from the PRESET team said their launch was now scheduled for mid-2027.<\/p>\n

Known Transporter-18 rideshare manifest<\/p>\n

Time after liftoffPayloadManifested by00:54:22SPRITENASA00:54:25UASAT-NANOExolaunch00:54:28Sateliot_6Exolaunch00:54:32GHGSAT C19 AidanSFL00:54:35Flock 4J-18SEOPS00:54:38GOMX-5Exolaunch00:54:45GHGSAT C18 EleanorSFL00:54:51CRIMSON-1Exolaunch00:54:54KENSATExolaunch00:55:04JACK-006Exolaunch00:55:14LEMUR-2-MDQURESHIExolaunch00:55:18GYEONGGISat-2AExolaunch00:55:21Sateliot_5Exolaunch00:55:31Flock 4J-17SEOPS00:55:34GPDMNASA00:55:40LEMUR-2-VARUNExolaunch00:55:44Watchdog v0-AMaverick Space Systems00:55:53Sateliot_8Exolaunch00:56:03Sateliot_7Exolaunch00:56:07Tomorrow-S12Tomorrow.io Companies Inc.00:56:15FOREST-20 AraucariaExolaunch00:56:18LEMUR-2-WHITEHOTCREWExolaunch00:56:21GuaraniSat-2SEOPS00:56:31AE4LaSEOPS00:56:44BRO-23Exolaunch00:56:48IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-21OHB Italia00:56:55eLEAF-01SEOPS00:56:55Blackwing Space Baby BirdSEOPS00:56:59Tomorrow-S13Tomorrow.io Companies Inc.00:57:12IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-24OHB Italia00:57:23Watchdog v0-MKMaverick Space Systems00:57:26IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-18OHB Italia00:57:36Newsat-64Satellogic00:57:41HERMESSEOPS00:57:52IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-20OHB Italia00:57:56Newsat-56Satellogic00:58:00IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-22OHB Italia00:58:07IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-17OHB Italia00:58:12IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-23OHB Italia00:58:27Sateliot_9Exolaunch00:58:38Terra NovaExolaunch00:58:41DHRUVA SPACE LEAP-2Dhruva Space Private Limited00:58:44Merlin-1Satellogic00:58:50MERIDIAN FCLExolaunch00:59:05IRIDE-MS1-EAGLET-2-19OHB Italia00:59:19BRO-32Exolaunch00:59:23Newsat-57Satellogic00:59:28ION SCV Absolute AndreasD-Orbit00:59:31GNOMES-10Muon Space00:59:40ICEYE-2Exolaunch00:59:54Athene 1 Seranis MissionOHB Orbital Access01:00:05ION SCV Empowering EkaterinaD-Orbit01:00:22ICEYE-3Exolaunch01:00:26OSSIEUARX Space01:00:31ICEYE-4Exolaunch01:00:34BOBD-Orbit01:00:57F2G1BAE Systems01:01:00KEVIND-Orbit01:01:25Project Suncatcher M1Planet Labs01:01:32Tanager-2Planet Labs01:01:39STUARTD-Orbit01:02:10ION SCV Alluring AlexanderD-Orbit01:02:21Altair-1Loft Orbital01:03:02Element-1CesiumAstro01:03:06SSPICY OtterStarfish Space01:03:24Reason-1Cowboy Space Corporation01:04:05HotSat-3Global SatelliteVu Ltd.01:04:30ICEYE-1Exolaunch01:04:51Star Catcher ProtostarStar Catcher01:04:56W-9Varda Space Industries01:05:15W-8Varda Space IndustriesTransporter-18 deployment sequence, in order. Canadian payloads in bold. Source: SpaceX mission page, retrieved Sept. 29, 2026. Table: SpaceQ<\/p>\n

PayloadCarried byReported by16 more Flock 4J SuperDovesPlanet Labs (not itemized; SpaceX lists 4J-17 and 4J-18 of 18)Planet, Aug. 31ANT 1OSSIE (UARX Space)NSF forum manifest listERMINAZ 2U, 2V and 2XOSSIE (UARX Space)NSF forum manifest listUSAT 1OSSIE (UARX Space)NSF forum manifest listSIDLOC PQ-03, PQ-04, PQ-05 and PQ-06OSSIE (UARX Space)Libre Space FoundationNIS-PQOSSIE (UARX Space)Libre Space FoundationTUPACHosted on Reason-1 (Cowboy Space)NSF forum manifest listAetherflux demonstrationHosted on Reason-1 (Cowboy Space)NSF forum manifest listSpace DOTS orbital assetD-Orbit (may be one of its payloads listed above)Space DOTS, Feb. 15ASCENT Propulsion Dual ModeNASA; not named on SpaceX timelineNASA, Sept. 25Other payloads reported for Transporter-18 but not named on SpaceX\u2019s deployment timeline, including satellites riding on transfer vehicles and hosted payloads. SpaceX says the flight carries 130 payloads in all. Sources: as listed. Table: SpaceQ<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

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