CLASSIFIED
CHECKMATE 5
US Military Mesh Communications (SDA Tranche 0 Transport Layer) · York Space Systems / US Space Development Agency
Right now
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Checkmate 5, one of ten satellites launched together April 2, 2023 as the US Space Development Agency's first real test of a genuinely new idea for military space: instead of a handful of billion-dollar satellites, build dozens of cheap, disposable, mesh-networked ones that talk directly to each other via laser. This satellite is part of the demonstration that directly validated the Link 16 tactical data relay capability now being scaled into the Pentagon's much larger Tranche 1 Transport Layer, a 126-satellite operational network.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 587–594 mi (945–956 km)
- Inclination
- 81.0°
- One orbit
- 103.9 minutes13.9 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 56163
- Int’l designator
- 2023-050B
- Launched
- 2023
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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