Mission

Endless Sky

Mission Name

Endless Sky

Carrier Name

ION SCV Amazing Antonius

Launch Date

January 2025

Launch Site

Vandenberg

Launcher

SpaceX

Rocket

Falcon 9

Mission Status

Ongoing

Passengers

8

Satellites Onboard

2

Hosted Payloads

6

Endless Sky, January 2025
Endless Sky Mission Booklet

Mission Updates

1.

UPDATE 1

January 14th, 2025

Launch

Endless Sky, the 15th commercial mission of the ION Satellite Carrier (ION), was launched on January 14, 2025, at 11:09 a.m. PT (07:09 PM UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. ION SCV Amazing Antonius successfully separated 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds after liftoff, entering a Sun-Synchronous Orbit at approximately 510 km altitude.

Throughout the Endless Sky mission, ION SCV Amazing Antonius will deploy two satellites and conduct six in-orbit demonstrations of hosted payloads.

The same Falcon 9 rocket also carried ION SCV Eminent Emmanuel, another member of the ION Satellite Carrier fleet, which will execute the 16th commercial mission, Ascend.

Currently, the D-Orbit’s mission control team is performing a series of tests and diagnostics to transition into the operational phase.
Image: Photo Credit: SpaceXPhoto Credit: SpaceX

Roadmap

PHASE 1 - COMMISSIONING

As soon as ION SCV Amazing Antonius reaches orbit, our spacecraft operations engineers will establish a bidirectional communication channel and start the launch and early orbit phase (LEOP), neutralizing the rotation imparted by the launch vehicle during separation, correcting the attitude, testing the satellites' subsystems, and preparing for the next phases.

PHASE 2 - COMMERCIAL PHASE, HOSTED PAYLOAD DEMONSTRATION

Once concluded the commissioning phase, ION SCV Amazing Antonius will start the commercial phase of the mission, which will consist in the deployment of the hosted satellites and the in-orbit demonstration of the third-party payloads hosted onboard. For this mission, ION will deploy two satellites and perform six in-orbit demonstrations of hosted payloads.

PHASE 3 - DECOMMISSIONING

At the end of the mission, the platform will join the fleet of IONs already in orbit and operated by the company. At the end of its life, the spacecraft will be decommissioned in compliance with the Space Debris Mitigation guidelines. The pressure vessels will be depleted from leftover fuel and oxidizer, the battery charging system will be deactivated, and the batteries will be completely discharged. The spacecraft, now inert, will enter a decommissioning trajectory that will bring it to burn up upon atmospheric re-entry within a few years.

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