OHB SE announced the successful launch of the ATHENE-1 technology demonstrator from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The small satellite was developed and built by OHB subsidiary LuxSpace in collaboration with the Bundeswehr University Munich. It flew aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-18 mission.
ATHENE-1 is the core component of the SeRANIS research project and will serve as an in-orbit test platform for 22 scientific experiments. The mission will test technologies for satellite-based communications, connectivity, intelligence, navigation and AI-enabled data processing in orbit.
The successful launch marks the start of the mission’s operational phase and a key milestone for the project team.