Vandenberg Space Force Base, California – October 27, 2026 -- The ATHENE-1 technology demonstrator, a small satellite of nearly 300 kilograms, has launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and reached low Earth orbit as planned, starting the operational phase of a mission that will host 22 scientific experiments. LuxSpace, a subsidiary of OHB, built the satellite with the Bundeswehr University Munich. It flew on the Transporter-18 mission.