Six Perihel satellites were released into orbit on Monday on a Halden Launch Services rideshare mission, two optical, two radar and two multispectral. All six made contact with the Awarua and Svalbard stations on their first passes.
The launch brings the Perihel fleet to 41 satellites flown. Commissioning takes about two weeks, after which each satellite switches to its customer's tasking plan and imagery starts to flow to the customers' buckets.
"The backup seat we booked on a second vehicle was not needed, which is how we like it," said James Okoro, Head of Mission Operations.
The satellites join Perihel's existing planes, bringing the total number of satellites in the fleet to 41.