Updated

Ukrainian communications equipment maker Himera and Danish space company GomSpace launched a first test communications satellite, Obria NANO, into low Earth orbit in early October as part of SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission. The Obria project aims to give Ukrainian state institutions, the military and other bodies a sovereign alternative to the US Starlink network, which has faced threats of being cut off along the front as a means of political pressure on Ukraine. Himera founder Misha Rudominskyi told Ukrainska Pravda that the satellite sends telemetry, that results are expected in a few months, and that the full testing programme is planned to last a year. The satellite weighs 10 kg and passes over Ukraine once a day, giving windows of about six minutes of usable contact. Mass-produced satellites of around 250 kg are planned, with at least 100 needed for basic continuous coverage and one to two years to deploy the network. Rudominskyi named rocket availability and component supply delays as major risks, and the article does not disclose the project's cost.