Starfish Otter, other payloads set to launch on Transporter 18

4 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

SpaceX launched a Transporter rideshare mission aboard a Falcon 9 from California, on the same day as the Crew-13 and NROL-97 Falcon Heavy missions were scheduled out of Florida. This is the first time in a while that the company is using all three Falcon-capable launch pads in the same general time period.

Transporter 18 flew on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 11:32 AM PDT (18:32 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The 58-minute launch window ended at 12:16 PM PDT (19:16 UTC), and this was the 110th Falcon 9 mission of 2026. The mission’s 130 payloads featured a prototype AI satellite for Google, the NASA-funded SPRITE telescope, and Starfish’s first Otter servicing vehicle, among others.

The rocket took a southerly trajectory suitable for sun-synchronous orbiting payloads. Following stage separation, the first stage, B1082-25, conducted a return-to-launch-site maneuver before safely touching down at Landing Zone 4 near its launch pad. The booster started its career with the Starlink 7-9 mission and launched on 20 additional Starlink flights, as well as the USSF-62, OneWeb #20, and NROL-145 missions.

After the second stage finished the second burn of its Merlin Vac engine at T+51:07, the mission’s payloads were released during an 11-minute period from T+54:22 to T+1:05:15. NASA’s SPRITE payload started off the deployment sequence, and the separation of Varda Space’s W-8 space factory marked the final release.

Google’s Project Suncatcher M1 prototype, which deployed at T+1:01:25, is an experimental satellite to test data processing hardware in orbit for future space-based AI data centers. The satellite will evaluate how Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) handle launch vibrations and space radiation, as well as approaches to cooling the chips.

Data centers in space could become the next major application to use low-Earth orbit, with constellations like SpaceX’s Starmind, designed to launch on Starship, already planned. Google’s prototype is among the first of its kind, and the company plans to test a laser link between two of its Suncatcher prototypes in 2027.

BREAKING: Google $GOOGL will launch an experimental AI satellite on Oct. 1 carrying four of its TPU chips, the New York Times reports, marking the first orbital test for Project Suncatcher – Google’s effort to eventually build AI data centers in space.

The satellite will test… pic.twitter.com/yaDbC8VzaH

— Outer Space Today (@outerspacetoday) September 24, 2026

Another notable payload on Transporter 18 was Starfish Space’s Otter satellite servicing vehicle. Otter, which was released at T+1:03:06, is a 335 kg satellite contracted by NASA to autonomously inspect multiple dead US-owned satellites in orbit. The mission, known as Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability or SSPICY, will last up to two years.

During the SSPICY mission, Otter will gather spin rate, spin-axis, and surface condition data on satellites after approaching them within hundreds of meters. SSPICY is a precursor to future life extension and satellite deorbiting mission, for which Starfish Space has contracts from Intelsat and the US military.

NASA sponsored other payloads on Transporter 18. One of them was the very first payload to be released, SPRITE, at T+54:22. SPRITE, also known as the Supernova Remnants and Proxies for Reionization Testbed Experiment, is a 12U CubeSat that will study shock waves in supernova remnants and ionizing radiation from low-redshift star-forming galaxies.

Another NASA payload is GPDM, or Green Propulsion Dual Mode. GPDM, which was deployed at T+55:34, will test a low-toxicity “green” propellant for a dual-mode system that can support high-impulse and high-efficiency spacecraft maneuvers.

Varda Space manifested the W-8 and W-9 satellites as the final payloads set for deployment, starting with W-9 at T+1:04:56. These satellites host small factories that can make pharmaceuticals or other materials, which then transfer into a reentry capsule that touches down safely back on Earth.

Spacecraft separation systems provider Exolaunch deployed 45 satellites on this mission as part of its rideshare program. Among these payloads are four spacecraft for Finnish intelligence company ICEYE, which operates a constellation of Earth-observation satellites.

Additionally, D-Orbit, Planet Labs, OHB Italia, Satellogic, SEOPS, and other entities also had payloads booked on Transporter 18. Moreover, a number of countries, government agencies, and private corporations were represented in the payload manifest.

Rideshare missions like this one have been used to build up constellations like ICEYE, offer countries the ability to launch their first satellite, and to fly experiments that might not have been feasible to fund and fly before. However, these missions may not continue past 2028 as SpaceX gradually winds down Falcon 9 operations in favor of Starship.

Three more Transporter missions, numbered 19, 20, and 21, remain on the Falcon 9 manifest, with Transporter 19 scheduled for launch no earlier (NET) than February 2027. Next, Transporter 20 is to fly NET June, and Transporter 21 will launch NET October 2027. The launch site for these future Transporter missions is not known yet, as these missions to sun-synchronous orbit can fly from either the West Coast or Florida.

SpaceX is also winding down its Bandwagon series, a similar rideshare that flies payloads to a mid-latitude orbit with three launches left, all from Florida. The current schedule has Bandwagon-5 for sometime in October, while listing Bandwagon-6 as NET 2027, and Bandwagon-7 set to fly in the first quarter of 2028. That flight will likely be the last ever rideshare mission a Falcon 9 flies, as Starship takes up more of SpaceX’s manifest.

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →