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Optimus-1 orbital servicing satellite lost after communications failure

S4 · · Space Machines Company

Record

CompanySpace Machines Company
Categorydefense space
Typemission-loss
Date
Time of daynot documented
Locationno physical site (recall / fleet-wide / aggregate record)
SeverityS4 (serious injury, total loss, or grounding)
ScaleOptimus-1 orbital servicing satellite
Confidencemedium
VerificationYes - adversarially checked against the cited source
Sourcepsnews.com.au

What happened

Space Machines Company's Optimus-1 satellite, launched 5 March 2024 on a SpaceX rideshare to demonstrate orbital servicing capability, never established communications after separation; despite weeks of round-the-clock efforts from ground stations worldwide, the company was unable to contact the spacecraft and it was effectively declared a total loss (space junk).

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