SpaceX Launches 130 Payloads on Transporter-18 Mission

SpaceX successfully launched the Transporter-18 mission on October 1, carrying a total of 130 payloads into orbit. The launch was part of a planned spaceflight tripleheader, with the second leg completed without any issues.

The highest-profile payload on board was a pathfinder spacecraft for Project Suncatcher, an AI constellation that Google plans to build and operate in low Earth orbit (LEO). This satellite will help determine how tensor processing units (TPUs) perform in space and withstand radiation.

Another company with AI ambitions, Cowboy Space, also flew on Transporter-18. Its Reason-1 satellite aims to prove out power beaming by transferring energy from LEO to a receiver on the ground using a high-power laser.