Mission

Space Bound

Mission Name

Space Bound

Carrier Name

ION SCV Charismatic Carlus

Launch Date

June 2025

Launch Site

Vandenberg

Launcher

SpaceX

Rocket

Falcon 9

Mission Status

Ongoing

Passengers

6

Satellites Onboard

2

Hosted Payloads

4

Space Bound, June 2025
Space Bound Mission Booklet

Mission Updates

1.

UPDATE 1

June 24th, 2025

Launch

D-Orbit successfully launched Space Bound, the 18th commercial mission of the ION Satellite Carrier (ION), on June 23 2025, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-14 mission. Liftoff took place at 02:25:00 PT (21:25:00 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. ION SCV Charismatic Carlus was released into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit at an altitude of approximately 590 km. Sharing the same flight was ION SCV Passionate Paula, carrying out the Skytrail mission. 

During Space Bound, ION SCV Charismatic Carlus will deploy two satellites and carry out four in-orbit demonstrations of hosted payloads. 

Our mission operations team is now conducting post-launch checks ahead of the start of the mission’s operational phase.

Image: Photo Credit: SpaceXPhoto Credit: SpaceX

Roadmap

PHASE 1 - COMMISSIONING

As soon as ION SCV Charismatic Carlus reaches orbit, our spacecraft operations engineers will establish a bidirectional communication channel and start the launch and early orbit phase (LEOP), neutralizing the rotation imparted by the launch vehicle during separation, correcting the attitude, testing the satellites' subsystems, and preparing for the next phases.

PHASE 2 - COMMERCIAL PHASE, HOSTED PAYLOAD DEMONSTRATION

Once concluded the commissioning phase, ION SCV Charismatic Carlus will start the commercial phase of the mission, which will consist in the deployment of the hosted satellites and the in-orbit demonstration of the third-party payloads hosted onboard. For this mission, ION will deploy two satellites and perform four in-orbit demonstrations of hosted payloads.

PHASE 3 - DECOMMISSIONING

At the end of the mission, the platform will join the fleet of IONs already in orbit and operated by the company. At the end of its life, the spacecraft will be decommissioned in compliance with the Space Debris Mitigation guidelines. The pressure vessels will be depleted from leftover fuel and oxidizer, the battery charging system will be deactivated, and the batteries will be completely discharged. The spacecraft, now inert, will enter a decommissioning trajectory that will bring it to burn up upon atmospheric re-entry within a few years.

Other missions