Lux Aeterna, a startup developing satellites designed to return from orbit and fly again, is turning to the United States military market, pitching reusable spacecraft as a way for the Space Force to deploy, recover and redeploy orbital assets.
The Denver-based company, founded by former Starlink satellite engineer Brian Taylor, is preparing for its debut mission scheduled for early next year to demonstrate the first step toward a more ambitious goal: satellites that can complete missions, return to Earth, be refurbished and fly again.
Lux Aeterna recently hired space industry veteran Brian Bone to lead its defense business. He told SpaceNews that the idea is to treat some spacecraft more like aircraft — assets that can be deployed for a mission, brought back for maintenance or upgrades and returned to service.
The company still has plenty to prove. Its first mission won’t demonstrate repeated reuse, and Lux will have to show that a satellite can withstand atmospheric reentry without making refurbishment more costly or time consuming than launching a new spacecraft.
For the military, Bone said, the argument isn’t simply about lowering the cost of a satellite but about changing how the Space Force manages spacecraft over their lifetimes.
