Rideshare industry adapting to a changing smallsat market

When a Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base June 12, it carried a broad cross-section of the overall smallsat industry. Transporter-8, SpaceX’s eighth dedicated rideshare mission, included 72 payloads for deployment into a sun-synchronous orbit. Several companies developing constellations had satellites on board, like radar imaging company Iceye, optical imaging company Satellogic and weather and tracking company Spire. Several smaller companies and organizations had spacecraft on board, as did aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, which deployed four satellites for DARPA’s Blackjack program.