Earth observation

Rocket Lab completed its 81st Electron launch on January 30, 2026, deploying South Korea's NEONSAT-1A Earth observation satellite to a 540km SSO for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The "Bridging The Swarm" mission was Rocket Lab's second launch in eight days and set a 100% mission success record for 2026. NEONSAT-1A carries a high-resolution optical camera for near-real-time disaster monitoring of the Korean Peninsula. It is the second satellite in a planned 11-satellite government constellation (NEONSAT-1 launched April 2024). CEO Peter Beck: "Two launches in eight days is a strong start to the year."

Varda Space Industries successfully reentered its W-5 capsule on January 29, 2026, landing at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia operated by Southern Launch. W-5 is the first mission using Varda's in-house developed satellite bus — a full vertical integration milestone. The capsule also used a Varda-manufactured heatshield made from C-PICA (Conformal Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator), technology licensed from NASA Ames under a Tipping Point award. The payload was carried on behalf of the U.S. Navy. Varda has now flown five W-series missions, targeting quarterly return cadence in 2026 with W-6 launching in 2026.

ISRO successfully launched the PSLV-C62 mission carrying the EOS-N1 Earth observation satellite and 18 co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 12 January 2026.