January, 2026

Exolaunch Deploys 22 Satellites on SpaceX's Twilight Mission, Successfully Completing the First Dawn-Dusk Rideshare Mission

Exolaunch begins 2026 with its first mission of the year to a unique dawn-dusk orbit, deploying satellites for new and long-standing customers and accelerating its growing launch cadence

Image © SpaceX

Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. — Jan. 11, 2026 — Exolaunch, a global leader in launch mission management, satellite integration and deployment services, has successfully deployed 22 customer satellites on SpaceX's Twilight rideshare mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Launch occurred from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 05:44 PT (14:44 CET). As Exolaunch's first mission of 2026 and 42nd overall, the launch highlights the company's fast-growing track record, increasingly diverse portfolio of missions, and ongoing role as a premier launch integration partner, providing reliable and precise access to space and satellite deployment.

The Twilight mission supported Exolaunch customers in Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Turkey and the United States, enabling satellite deployments across commercial, institutional, and government programs. Together, the payloads enable applications across Earth observation, IoT connectivity, scientific research, and technology demonstration.

Exolaunch draws on more than a decade of experience supporting successful launch campaigns and deploying 675 satellites to date. For Twilight, the company used its flight-proven CarboNIX separation rings for shock-free microsatellite deployment and EXOpod Nova cubesat deployers for both standard and high-volume, high-mass cubesats.

Image © SpaceX

Exolaunch provided end-to-end launch mission management, including launch capacity procurement with Falcon 9, coordination of all contractual and technical deliverables, logistics and customs clearance services, launch campaign operations and satellite integration with the launch vehicle at Vandenberg Space Force Base, flight-proven deployment technologies and satellite deployment into its target orbit.

Image © Exolaunch

Exolaunch manifested the following spacecraft on the Twilight mission:

  • Two ICEYE satellites (Finland)

  • Hawk-13A, Hawk-13B and Hawk-13C, collectively Cluster 13, for HawkEye 360 (USA)

  • Flamingo-1 for Vyoma (Germany)

  • LEMUR-2-MARIO-SOUSA, LEMUR-2-CALLUM-K-J, LEMUR-2-GRAM-E-SUE, LEMUR-2-SONNENBLUME, LEMUR-2-KATIE, LEMUR-2-FIKRETDENGIZ, LEMUR-2-HCS-BAZUS, LEMUR-2-WOBLER and LEMUR-2-KUTAR for Spire Global (USA)

  • Connecta IoT-13, Connecta IoT-14, Connecta IoT-15, and Connecta IoT-16 for Plan-S (Turkey)

  • BlackCAT, NASA-funded satellite for Kongsberg NanoAvionics and Penn State University with contributions from Los Alamos National Laboratory (Lithuania, USA)

  • Dcubed-1 / Araqys-D1 for Dcubed (Germany)

  • HYDRA-2 for Aistech Space via Endurosat (Spain, Bulgaria)

Image © SpaceX

With this mission, Exolaunch builds on its multi-year launch agreements with SpaceX to meet the growing demand for reliable access to space and access to unique orbits.

To support growing launch and deployment needs, Exolaunch expanded its global footprint in 2025 by opening new offices in Toulouse and Tokyo, complementing its Berlin headquarters and U.S. integration facilities in Denver. Building on this expansion, the company is accelerating its growth in 2026 with a significant scale-up of its Berlin operations. Exolaunch's headquarters now spans approximately 1,400 sq. m., in the city's most dynamic technology hub at Potsdamerplatz, while its industrial facilities in Berlin have expanded to more than 750 sq.m. dedicated to satellite integration and launch hardware operations.

In 2025, Exolaunch successfully completed 11 missions, precisely deploying 197 customer satellites into orbit. The company also introduced new industry-leading deployment systems and launch stacks for constellation and rideshare missions, marking its biggest year to date. In 2026, Exolaunch is gearing up for another record-breaking year, with plans to execute over 20 missions and deliver several hundred satellites into orbit.

Image © SpaceX

About Exolaunch

Exolaunch is a global leader in launch mission management, satellite integration and deployment technologies for satellites up to 1,000 kg. With a decade of flight heritage and 675 satellites flown across 42 missions to date, Exolaunch leverages industry insight to tailor turnkey solutions that meet customer needs and respond to market trends. Exolaunch fulfills launch contracts for industry leaders, the world's most innovative startups, research institutions, government organizations and international space agencies. The company develops and manufactures its own flight-proven and industry-leading satellite separation systems and payload launch stacks, with the fastest-growing heritage on the market.

Exolaunch, headquartered in Germany, operates globally with offices in the U.S., France, and Japan. Exolaunch promotes safe, sustainable, and responsible use of space and is committed to making space accessible for all.

For more information, please visit www.exolaunch.com

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/exolaunch

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