- SpaceX launched Falcon 9 with 18 satellites from Cape Canaveral in the Bandwagon-4 mission
- Haven Demo satellite by Vast Space aims to test flight computer and navigation systems in space
- Haven-1, planned for 2026, will be the first commercial space station housing four astronauts
In a significant step toward the future of commercial space exploration, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 18 satellites into orbit early Sunday morning. The mission, called Bandwagon-4, took off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, marking yet another milestone for Elon Musk's aerospace company.
One of the 18 satellites was Haven Demo, and developed by the American space company Vast Space.
The mission's purpose is to test the performance of its key systems in space, such as its flight computer and navigation system.
This test is a significant step toward the company's upcoming major plan, the launch of the private space station "Haven-1" in mid-2026.
Check out the post here:
If successful, Haven-1 will be the world's first commercial space station, capable of housing four astronauts at a time. This achievement will mark a historic milestone for the United States in the field of space commercialisation.
The Falcon 9 rocket, launched alongside Haven Demo, also carried several satellites from other countries and companies. These include South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD), Berlin's Exolaunch, Turkey's Fergani Space, the American weather forecasting company Tomorrow Companies, and Starcloud.
Starcloud's satellite is equipped with an NVIDIA H100 AI chip, which aims to test whether it's possible to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) based data centre in space.
About 12 minutes after launch, the rocket successfully deployed its first payload, the fifth Korea Satellite 425, developed by South Korea's ADD. This satellite is designed for military surveillance. Given its confidential nature, SpaceX subsequently suspended its live broadcast.
Now that the Haven demo satellite has been successfully placed in orbit, the next phase of the mission will focus on technical tests.
Engineers will examine how the satellite move in space, how efficiently its onboard computers operate, and how accurately it maintains its navigation system.
The results of these tests will ensure that all systems are fully prepared before the upcoming launch of the Haven 1 space station.
