{"id":111732,"date":"2025-11-02T17:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/111732\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:53:11","slug":"commercial-space-station-demo-data-center-precursor-launch-on-spacex-bandwagon-4-mission-spaceflight-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/111732\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial space station demo, data center precursor launch on SpaceX Bandwagon-4 mission \u2013 Spaceflight Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Bandwagon-4 ride share mission to a mid-inclination orbit. Image: Adam Bernstein \/ Spaceflight Now<\/p>\n

An Nvidia-backed data center demo, a testbed for Vast\u2019s future commercial space station and artificial intelligence-powered weather satellites were among the spacecraft deployed on SpaceX\u2019s latest Bandwagon ride share mission to low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Bandwagon-4 was the fourth multi-customer flight to a mid-inclination orbit and the 18th mission as part of SpaceX\u2019s small sat ride share program, which also includes the Transporter series, going to higher inclinations.<\/p>\n

Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 1:09:59 a.m. EDT (0509:59 UTC).<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 95 percent chance for favorable weather at liftoff with just a small chance for interference from cumulus clouds.<\/p>\n

The mission used Falcon 9 first stage booster B1091, which previously launched two batches of satellites for Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper and will eventually fly as a center booster for a Falcon Heavy rocket.<\/p>\n

Less than eight minutes after liftoff, B1091 performed a touchdown at Landing Zone 2, at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Launch Complex 13. It is likely to be the last booster to return to LZ-2 as SpaceX is about to transition to a new landing zone at pad 40. The company has already retired Landing Zone 1 \u00a0as the Space Force prepares to hand over LC-13 to new commercial launch providers Phantom Space and Vaya Space.<\/p>\n

It was the 15th landing at LZ-2 and the 528th Falcon 9 booster landing to date.<\/p>\n

\"\"During SpaceX\u2019s Bandwagon-4 ride share mission, the plume of the Falcon 9 booster interacted with that of of the upper stage during the boostback burn to create a nebula-like effect in the night sky over Florida\u2019s Space Coast. Image: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now
\nWhat\u2019s onboard?<\/p>\n

The primary payload at the top of the stack, referred to as the \u201ccake topper\u201d in SpaceX ride share documents, was the fifth 425 Korea satellite from South Korea\u2019s Agency for Defense Development (ADD). Because of the presence of these sensitive military satellites on each of the previous three Bandwagon missions, SpaceX has ended it\u2019s live launch coverage before the payload deployments.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Thales Alenia Space signed contracts with two South Korean companies, Aerospace Industries and Hanwha Systems Corporation, to develop four synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites for the Korea 425 Project constellation. The fifth satellite in the reconnaissance constellation was an electromagnetic and infrared satellite that launched back in December 2023 on another Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

This final SAR satellite deployed about 14 minutes after liftoff. The Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s upper stage then performed two more burns of its Merlin Vacuum engine, lasting one second each, before beginning the deployment sequence for the remaining 17 spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\"\"An artists\u2019 rendering of two Korea 425 Project satellites in low Earth orbit. Graphic: Thales Alenia Space<\/p>\n

Among those satellites was Vast\u2019s Haven Demo. The California-based company is using the mission to test out a number of systems, like navigation software, propulsion and flight computers that will be used on its first commercial space station, Haven-1.<\/p>\n

Vast is aiming to launch its Haven-1 no earlier than May 2026 and will host a four-member crew of astronauts for a roughly two-week-long mission. Those astronauts have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n

Haven Demo build and test are complete, and it is now undergoing final integration for launch. Meanwhile, we\u2019re moving toward critical systems testing and continuing to build momentum on Haven-1 flight hardware. Haven-1\u2019s primary structure qualification article has successfully\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ATJ6Bryhde<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vast (@vast) September 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Another spacecraft that has been grabbing headlines is from Starcloud, a defense and space manufacturing startup backed by the likes of the Nvidia Inception Program, NFX, Y Combinator and others.<\/p>\n

The 60 kg (132 lb) Starcloud-1 satellite (roughly the size of a small refrigerator) will carry the Nvidia H100 GPU (graphics processing unit), touted by Nvidia as \u201cthe first time a state-of-the-art, data center-class GPU is in outer space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn space, you get almost unlimited, low-cost renewable energy,\u201d said Philip Johnston, cofounder and CEO of the startup, which is based in Redmond, Washington. \u201cThe only cost on the environment will be on the launch, then there will be 10x carbon-dioxide savings over the life of the data center compared with powering the data center terrestrially on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the big pushbacks on current data centers that power AI systems is their large draw resources, like freshwater to cool them and the carbon they emit. An article<\/a> from the Environmental and Energy Institute, a nonprofit founded by a bipartisan group of members of Congress, found that \u201clarge data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons\u00a0per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starcloud believes that its future space-based data centers can be \u201cten times cheaper than land-based options.\u201d Johnston predicted that \u201cIn 10 years, nearly all new data centers will be being built in outer space.\u201d<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t be more excited to share that our @Starcloud_Inc1<\/a>-1 satellite is targeted to \ud835\uddf9\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude02\ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddf5 \ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfb \ud835\udfee \ud835\uddf1\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude06\ud835\ude00, on November 2nd at 1:09 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of the Bandwagon-4 rideshare mission with\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/K5tqMI4tVz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Philip Johnston (@PhilipJohnst0n) October 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Germany-based Exolaunch was responsible for manifesting and deploying 13 out of the 18 payloads flying. Those included a trio of SAR satellites from ICEYE and Space42 and four pico satellites from T\u00fcrkiye-based Anadolu Ajans\u0131.<\/p>\n

Another Turkish company, Fergani Space, manifested its second satellite to date, FGN-100-D2. It\u2019s part of the company\u2019s Positioning Satellite Constellation Project, which aims to launch 100 satellites for a GPS-like capabilities for T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow Companies Inc. also manifested a pair of its artificial intelligence-utilizing weather satellites.<\/p>\n

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