CLASSIFIED
PRAETORIAN SDA_512
US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer) · York Space Systems / US Space Development Agency
Right now
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PRAETORIAN SDA-512, one of York Space Systems' Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites for the US Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — the Pentagon's answer to a fundamental problem: how do you build military space infrastructure that isn't an easy, high-value target? Rather than a handful of expensive satellites, the SDA is deploying over 150 nearly identical, mass-produced Transport Layer spacecraft in low Earth orbit, connected via optical laser inter-satellite links into a resilient global mesh network. This satellite is built to automatically reroute data around any single failed or destroyed satellite in the mesh — resilience baked into the network topology itself rather than depending on any one spacecraft surviving intact.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 581–596 mi (936–959 km)
- Inclination
- 81.5°
- One orbit
- 103.8 minutes13.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 100070
- Int’l designator
- 2026-163M
- Launched
- 2026
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More classified
- PRAETORIAN SDA_513US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)
- PRAETORIAN SDA_514US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)
- PRAETORIAN SDA_515US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)
- PRAETORIAN SDA_516US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)
- PRAETORIAN SDA_517US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)
- PRAETORIAN SDA_518US Military Mesh Communications (PWSA Transport Layer)