Fleet Space launches Centauri-6 satellite on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-1 mission
Australian space exploration company Fleet Space Technologies successfully deployed its next-generation Centauri-6 satellite on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-1 mission, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday.
The addition of Centauri-6 to Fleet Space’s satellite constellation will be key to servicing the global demand for its end-to-end mineral exploration solution, ExoSphere, while building capacity to deliver advanced SATCOM capabilities with microsatellite architectures, the company said.
The launch of Centauri-6 is the latest development from Fleet Space after its Centauri-4 became the world’s smallest voice-enabled satellite after a demonstration of Push-To-Talk (PTT) capabilities to the Australian Defence Force Joint Capabilities Division as part of their ASCEND2LEO program.
Fleet Space’s SPIDER seismic technology will also head to the Moon to search for water ice and deliver new insights about the lunar regolith on Firefly Aerospace’s second lunar mission in 2026 as part of a NASA CLPS initiative.
Rapid global adoption of Fleet Space’s satellite-enabled mineral exploration solution, ExoSphere, has been the catalyst behind the company’s growth over the past year. Over 40 industry exploration companies – including Rio Tinto, Core Lithium, and Barrick Gold – have used the technology to complete 300+ surveys for a variety of critical minerals across five continents.
In 2023, Fleet Space completed a heavily oversubscribed A$50 million Series C funding round, doubled its valuation to A350$ million, and was named Australia’s fastest growing company.
“Expanding satellite infrastructure is rapidly unlocking new capabilities that can help to address some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet. At current rates of mineral discoveries and production, our net-zero goals and clean energy future are unattainable in the coming decades,” Fleet Space CEO Flavia Tata Nardini said in a news release.
“Centauri-6 is a portal into a future of efficient, mass-scale satellite manufacturing that can unlock previously unimaginable satellite-enabled solutions to hard problems on Earth,” she said.