Newsflash
2026.03.31
Rapidtek Successfully Launched Black Kite-2
Commissioned by the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) and developed in collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Rapidtek’s 8U IoT CubeSat “Black Kite-2” successfully launched at 9:28 PM (Taiwan time) on March 30 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-16 and was successfully deployed into orbit.
With the successful launch of Black Kite-2, the mission has entered the phase of continuous on-orbit validation, moving toward the development of a low Earth orbit satellite constellation.
Black Kite-2 continues the mission focus on on-orbit testing and performance optimization of low Earth orbit IoT communication systems. It marks the transition from single-satellite validation to continuous mission operations. The team is building more stable and repeatable systems and workflows, laying the foundation for future constellation deployment.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), National Taipei University of Technology, and National Tsing Hua University for their support and collaboration throughout the mission, which helped ensure its successful completion.
The satellite operates in a sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of around 500 to 600 kilometers. It carries Rapidtek’s Ku band antenna module and Ka band communication capability for high bandwidth application testing. It also includes LoRa based IoT experiments to validate low power communication use cases in space.
With Black Kite-2 in orbit, Rapidtek will continue the program with two more 8U CubeSats scheduled for launch, further advancing the development of a low Earth orbit IoT satellite constellation and strengthening end to end space communication capabilities.
With the successful launch of Black Kite-2, the mission has entered the phase of continuous on-orbit validation, moving toward the development of a low Earth orbit satellite constellation.
Black Kite-2 continues the mission focus on on-orbit testing and performance optimization of low Earth orbit IoT communication systems. It marks the transition from single-satellite validation to continuous mission operations. The team is building more stable and repeatable systems and workflows, laying the foundation for future constellation deployment.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), National Taipei University of Technology, and National Tsing Hua University for their support and collaboration throughout the mission, which helped ensure its successful completion.
The satellite operates in a sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of around 500 to 600 kilometers. It carries Rapidtek’s Ku band antenna module and Ka band communication capability for high bandwidth application testing. It also includes LoRa based IoT experiments to validate low power communication use cases in space.
With Black Kite-2 in orbit, Rapidtek will continue the program with two more 8U CubeSats scheduled for launch, further advancing the development of a low Earth orbit IoT satellite constellation and strengthening end to end space communication capabilities.
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