ADLER-2 will search for space debris in orbit

A new satellite that aims to further enhance orbital debris monitoring in low Earth orbit (LEO) and expand novel atmospheric sensing capabilities to study clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere was launched on 15. April 2023 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.SpaceX’s Transporter-7 mission, a Falcon 9 rideshare flight into sun-synchronous orbit, carried several small satellites for commercial and government customers, including the ADLER-2 satellite, a second mission developed by the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF).In partnership with Austrian-based new space technology investor Findus Venture GmbH, the satellite mission is a collaborative effort including involvement from GRASP SAS European, a US instrument builder providing space services, and US midstream service company Tilebox. It is built and will be operated by Spire Space Services, which allows organizations to deploy and scale their own satellite constellation at maximum speed and with minimum risk, through a subscription model that eliminates the high upfront cost of building and maintaining space infrastructure. Commercial and government organizations can deploy and operate a constellation of satellites, a hosted payload, or a software application in space with Spire’s infrastructure.