Arianespace to launch Katalyst servicing spacecraft

WASHINGTON — Katalyst Space Technologies will launch a geosynchronous orbit servicing spacecraft on an Ariane 6 in 2027.

Arianespace announced March 23 that it won a contract to launch Katalyst’s Nexus-1 servicing spacecraft on an Ariane 6 in the second half of 2027. The companies did not disclose terms of the contract, including whether the launch would be shared with other customers.

Katalyst is developing a series of servicing spacecraft. Nexus-1 will be deployed into geostationary transfer orbit and install a space situational awareness sensor on a U.S. Space Force satellite in geostationary orbit.

Nexus-1 will also conduct additional rendezvous and proximity operations to support space domain awareness. The company will later use Nexus-1 for commercial customers.

“Securing our Ariane 6 launch is a major step toward delivering on-orbit capabilities that allow satellite operators to adapt, respond and extend mission value in ways they never could before,” Ghonhee Lee, chief executive of Katalyst, said in a statement.

Nexus-1 is not the company’s first servicing mission. Katalyst is developing a spacecraft that will attempt to reboost NASA’s Swift gamma-ray astronomy observatory, whose low Earth orbit is decaying. Swift is danger of reentering as soon as the end of this year. That servicing spacecraft is scheduled to launch as soon as June on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL.

“We are delighted to sign this Ariane 6 launch contract with Katalyst,” David Cavaillolès, chief executive of Arianespace, said in a statement. “We are all about launching ambitions worldwide with Europe’s powerful heavy-lift launcher Ariane 6, able to support complex and innovative space missions, like Katalyst’s Nexus-1.”

Arianespace has performed one Ariane 6 launch so far this year, carrying a set of Amazon Leo satellites into orbit in February. Cavaillolès told reporters in January the company was planning to perform up to eight launches this year and ramp up to 9 or 10 launches in 2027 and later years.

The company’s 2026 launch manifest is fully booked, but he said in January the company had some openings in its manifest in 2027. “Starting in 2028 onwards, we have availability. We have quite a lot of availability,” he said.