First Aries Satellite Achieves One Full Year On-Orbit Milestone

LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Apex's first Aries spacecraft mission, Aries Serial Number One (SN1), surpassed one year on-orbit of nominal operations. The anniversary is a major milestone for Apex, the leading high-rate configurable satellite bus platform manufacturer, and for the space industrial base, which now has a new high-rate supplier they can depend on.

Aries SN1 is the fastest clean sheet design to production spacecraft operating in space. It is the first production build of Apex's productized ESPA-class satellite bus that can support payloads up to 150kg. Originally conceived as an internal on-orbit software demonstration platform, Aries SN1 was leveraged by three defense primes to carry sensitive payloads into orbit, including an edge-processing payload for Anduril. Other payloads include communications equipment and space domain awareness systems.

"Two years ago, we set out to make history and kicked off the design of our first production satellite bus, Aries. One year ago, we set a world record, launching Aries to orbit at an unheard-of pace," said Ian Cinnamon, Apex's co-founder and CEO. "Today, we've demonstrated the quality, durability, and reliability of that same spacecraft. Putting a satellite into orbit is not easy, but the one-year operational mark is a major milestone that we haven't seen any other newer platform company hit in recent years. Not only does Aries continue to operate nominally, but we have delivered additional Aries buses to customers in under three months, and we plan to improve that timeline further as we scale."

 Apex has become a reliable, go-to satellite bus supplier for both government and private sector customers and has proven the viability of its game-changing approach to satellite bus manufacturing. Through its productized approach, Apex provides ready-to-go, off-the-shelf, high-rate configurable buses at scale to deliver payloads of varying sizes to their customers faster than any other spacecraft manufacturer. The Apex approach means that customers can take delivery in weeks, compared to months or even a year, with traditional bespoke processes.

In the year that Aries SN1 has been on-orbit, Apex further proved its ability to rapidly scale production, delivering three additional buses to customers last quarter alone. Apex's full-rate production facility, opening next quarter, will be able to manufacture up to 12 buses per month.

Media Contact: Claude Chafin, [email protected]

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SOURCE Apex Space