KOUROU, French Guiana - On April 28, 2026 local time, Arianespace will launch 32 Amazon Leo satellites aboard Ariane 6 in its Ariane 64 configuration from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The launch window will be announced in the coming weeks.

The mission, called VA268 and LE-02 for Amazon Leo, will mark the second Ariane 6 launch dedicated to the deployment of the Amazon Leo constellation, within a series of 18.

Equipped with four solid rocket boosters, Ariane 64 is the most powerful version of Ariane 6. For this mission, the launcher will carry the 32 satellites under its 20-meter-long fairing and deploy them into low Earth orbit following a mission lasting less than 2 hours from lift-off to separation of the last spacecraft.

The 32 Amazon Leo satellites arrived in Kourou on March 10 and March 12. Meanwhile, the launcher components for VA268 are currently arriving at the port of Pariacabo, the entry point for Ariane launch hardware transported to the Guiana Space Centre aboard the purpose-built vessel Canopée. Their arrival marks the beginning of the VA268 launch campaign, including launcher integration and testing and payload processing ahead of launch.

Amazon Leo is Amazon's low Earth orbit satellite network, whose mission is to deliver fast, reliable internet to customers beyond the reach of existing networks. Through this mission, Arianespace continues to contribute to the expansion of connectivity services worldwide.

VA268 is part of a series of 18 launches entrusted to Arianespace for the deployment of Amazon's constellation, underscoring the long-term partnership between the two organizations.

Source: Arianespace
Associated URL: https://newsroom.arianespace.com/arianespace-to-launch-another-32-amazon-leo-satellites-with-ariane-64-on-april-28-2026/

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. - Lockheed Martin participated in the U.S. Space Force (USSF) VICTUS DIEM exercise, successfully executing a rapid payload processing and launch simulation in collaboration with Firefly Aerospace.

Through this effort, the companies demonstrated capabilities needed to execute tactically responsive space missions within a threat scenario. The exercise enhanced the warfighter’s ability to execute space operations on accelerated timelines, supporting Lockheed Martin’s efforts to get new tech on orbit faster. For example:

· The VICTUS DIEM exercise included a rapid payload processing demonstration. The Lockheed Martin and Firefly teams completed all payload processing in less than 12 hours. Accelerated payload processing is critical in a crisis, when American or allied forces may need to launch quickly to counter a threat.

· The teams also conducted a 36-hour rapid launch simulation as part of a Space Force-led field training exercise, rehearsing emergency launch protocols used in real-life, responsive space missions. After receiving a simulated notice to launch, the teams completed all launch operations tasks within 36 hours.

Source: Lockheed Martin
Associated URL: https://news.lockheedmartin.com/victusdiem

LUXEMBOURG - SES, a space solutions company, announced it will deploy meoSphere, a next-generation medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030 and designed to significantly boost the company’s MEO network capacity.

The program launches with a close collaboration designed for efficient satellite production. SES will pair its own software-defined payloads, being developed and manufactured in Luxembourg, with an initial 28 high-power satellite platforms developed by K2 Space, representing the first phase of the broader meoSphere rollout. The collaboration gives SES tighter control over key supply-chain elements, compresses the build timeline, and allows the company to manage schedules and costs with precision, laying the foundation for future scalability.

meoSphere is SES’s next generation MEO network, significantly boosting global broadband capacity, increasing user data speeds while reducing terminal sizes and costs. These step-change improvements come from advances in payload and terminal technologies, software-defined networking, 5G non-terrestrial network (5G NTN) standards and MEO’s inherent strengths: efficient geographic coverage, ability to steer capacity to the high-demand areas, optimizing ground-station deployment, and low latency. The network is designed to meet growing demand for secure, stable, reliable, and resilient connectivity across government, mobility, and fixed telecommunications markets. The meoSphere network will be compatible with Europe’s IRIS2 program.

Orbiting at about 8,000 kilometers above Earth, SES is designing meoSphere for adaptability across new missions, new use cases, and new customer segments. Beyond its core broadband mission, the network’s flexible architecture will support multiple missions simultaneously, including integration with sovereign networks, serving governments and other customers that require sovereign solutions. meoSphere will also support the growing space economy, functioning as a space-based host for customer payloads and as a 'backbone network in space' that enables interconnections between constellations in all orbits to relay data to each other and to the ground in real time.

Over the next three years, SES plans to launch a series of MEO 'pathfinder' missions with K2 Space to test and validate the satellite bus and SES payload components in orbit, refine operational concepts, and reduce risk ahead of full-scale deployment. Each mission will carry progressively greater payload complexity, incorporating lessons learned from earlier flights into the development cycle.

This announcement builds on SES’s collaboration with K2 to develop a next generation MEO network. This initiative is included in the company’s previously-announced capital expenditure guidance for full-year 2026 and is expected to conform to SES's financial policy of disciplined capital deployment. The company is committed to using a disciplined mix of commercial and public-private approaches to mitigate financial risk. In addition, SES intends to maintain a dual supply chain across the Atlantic to strengthen resilience against potential constraints in parts availability, permitting, and logistics.

Source: SES
Associated URL: https://www.ses.com/news/press-release/ses-taps-k2-space-to-accelerate-nextgen-meo-satellite-network-meosphere