Science

CAPELLA-15 (ACADIA-5)

SAR imaging · Capella Space

Capella-15, known internally as Acadia-5, is a radar-imaging satellite from the American SAR company Capella Space, launched August 16, 2024 on SpaceX's Transporter-11 mission into a 97-degree sun-synchronous orbit. It's the newest member of Capella's second-generation Acadia line, which the company says can spend up to five times longer actively imaging per orbit than competing commercial SAR satellites—more imaging time per pass means more chances to catch a moving target or a changing scene. Capella had originally lined up a run of dedicated Rocket Lab Electron launches for the Acadia series, but diversified onto SpaceX rideshares in 2024, sending its sibling Acadia-4 to a mid-inclination orbit on Bandwagon-1 while Acadia-5 took the sun-synchronous route via Transporter-11. That deliberate split across orbital planes and inclinations is a strategy: it lets Capella revisit the same patch of ground more often and at less predictable times, which matters a great deal to government and defense customers who don't want adversaries timing their movements around a satellite's known schedule.