ICEYE has deployed four synthetic aperture radar satellites from a SpaceX Falcon 9 during the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission, expanding its constellation and customer capacity. The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on 20 October, with all four spacecraft establishing communications and entering commissioning. Exolaunch handled satellite integration.
Two of the satellites are assigned to Portugal’s Atlantic Constellation, developed with CTI Aeroespacial and the Portuguese Air Force. Their arrival brings the number of ICEYE-built spacecraft supporting the programme to four.
Bandwagon missions target mid-inclination orbits, unlike the sun-synchronous orbits used by many SpaceX Transporter rideshares. ICEYE has previously indicated that such orbits can provide more than twice as many collection opportunities between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south, supporting applications including defence, maritime monitoring and disaster response.
The deployment followed ICEYE missions on Transporter-17 in July and Transporter-18 on 1 October. It was the company’s second launch campaign during October and brought its reported total of launched spacecraft to 84, including satellites operated for customers. ICEYE is working to increase annual production from about 50 satellites to 100. The Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas after the launch, which had been postponed by one day because of recovery-weather conditions.