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A Falcon 9 is set to lift off from Vandenberg no earlier than 6 October around 08:08 UTC with 21 Northrop Grumman data-relay satellites for the US Space Development Agency; the 5 October try stopped seconds before liftoff. It is the fourth Tranche 1 launch and lifts the transport layer to 84 of 126 satellites. Our take: the laser mesh now has to prove itself at scale.
Launch focus · Space Development Agency
Target: no earlier than 6 October 2026, 08:08 UTC. Your local time:
Launch times can still move. The live time is on our launches page.
Launches page →Our short video (in Turkish, with on-screen numbers) explains the launch, the laser links and the cost per satellite.
A Falcon 9 is set to lift off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying 21 data-relay satellites built by Northrop Grumman for the US Space Development Agency (SDA). The first attempt on 5 October was stopped by the rocket’s own computers in the final seconds because one reading was out of limits; the new try is no earlier than 6 October, around 08:08 UTC. The booster, B1103, flies for the sixth time and should land back on Landing Zone 4.
The satellites belong to the Transport Layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture: hundreds of small satellites in low orbit that pass data to each other by laser and down to forces on the ground, so that a missile warning or a target track reaches the right unit within seconds. Instead of a few large, expensive spacecraft, SDA buys many cheaper ones and replaces them in batches, called tranches, roughly every two years.
Sources: Space.com, Spaceflight Now, Air & Space Forces. The last row is our arithmetic: 126 minus the four launches.
Illustration, not to scale: satellites in polar planes hand data to their neighbours by laser (orange) and down to forces on the ground (teal).
Satellites per tranche. Tranche 1 tracking numbers differ between sources (28–39), so only its transport layer is shown; Tranche 3 shows the 72 tracking satellites ordered in December 2025. Sources: GAO, SDA, Air & Space Forces.
Logarithmic scale: each step is ten times higher. SDA altitude ≈ 1,000 km (Spaceflight Now: 750–1,200 km).
Contract value of February 2022 divided by 42 satellites each (our arithmetic). York $382M, Lockheed Martin $700M, Northrop Grumman $692M (SDA).
The programme runs about a year behind its first plan. The first Tranche 1 launch was due in September 2024 and flew in September 2025, slowed by supply-chain problems, according to the US Government Accountability Office. After two launches in autumn 2025, SDA paused for about nine months: temperatures in orbit did not match the models, satellites reached ground stations too rarely and some had propulsion trouble. One Lockheed Martin satellite is still out of contact.
Sources: GAO-26-107085 (January 2026), Air & Space Forces Magazine.
Four Tranche 1 launches remain after this one, including the first tracking-layer flight expected around December 2026 or early 2027; SDA now aims to have all of Tranche 1 in orbit by late spring 2027. Tranche 2, about 254 satellites, should start launching in fiscal year 2027, and 72 Tranche 3 tracking satellites were ordered in December 2025 for about $3.5 billion. GAO estimates nearly $35 billion for the whole architecture through fiscal year 2029.
Our take: many small, replaceable satellites are hard to knock out, which is a sound idea. But the network is only as good as its laser links, and those still have to prove themselves at scale. This Northrop Grumman batch is a real test.
No earlier than 6 October 2026 around 08:08 UTC (10:08 in Central Europe, 11:08 in Türkiye) from Vandenberg, California. The 5 October attempt was stopped seconds before liftoff.
It is a data network in orbit. Every satellite carries at least four laser links plus Link 16 and Ka-band radios, relaying missile warnings and targeting data between sensors and forces.
126 in the transport layer, 42 each from York, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Tracking-layer numbers differ between sources (28 to 39).
Supply-chain problems delayed the first launch by about a year, and problems in orbit led to a nine-month launch pause after October 2025 (GAO; Air & Space Forces).
Sources: Spaceflight Now (live coverage, 4 Oct 2026), KEYT (2 Oct 2026), Air & Space Forces Magazine, SDA award announcements (Feb 2022, Dec 2025), GAO-26-107085 (Jan 2026), Space.com. Per-satellite prices and the 84/126 count are our own arithmetic.