Muon Space Unveils Condor-Ultra, Starship-Class Spacecraft Platform Built for Scale

Muon Space, designing, building, and operating satellite constellations optimized for your mission, led by Jonny Dyer(CEO and Co-Founder), Paul Day(VP Production and Co-Founder), Dan McCleese(Chief Scientist and Co-Founder), Reuben Rohrschneider(Chief Mission Architect and Co-Founder), and Pascal Stang(CTO and Co-Founder), has unveiled Condor-Ultra, its newest spacecraft platform developed for high-power, networked constellations of hundreds to thousands of satellites.

Built for Large-Scale Deployment in Orbit.

Condor-Ultra is designed for mass deployment, with its architecture optimized for launch aboard SpaceX Starship. The platform is intended to support high-demand missions across communications, remote sensing, and space-based computing, providing the power, data handling, and payload capacity required for next-generation orbital infrastructure.

While optimized for Starship’s large payload capabilities, Condor-Ultra can also be configured for deployment on medium-lift launch vehicles such as Falcon 9 and Neutron, offering flexibility across a range of launch options.

Rapid Expansion of Muon’s Satellite Platform Portfolio.

The Condor-Ultra announcement highlights the speed of Muon Space’s product development, arriving less than a year after the introduction of its XL platform. Designed for high-performance space infrastructure missions, Condor-Ultra combines 20 kW of power generation, more than 18 square meters of payload area, 25 Gbps connectivity through Starlink, and the company’s Starlight propulsion system.

The platform is intended to support demanding communications, sensing, and space-computing applications while leveraging the reliability and operational framework developed through Muon’s Mission Foundry. The first Condor-Ultra pathfinder spacecraft is scheduled for delivery in 2028.

According to Jonny Dyer, the next wave of space infrastructure, ranging from communications networks and Earth observation systems to orbital computing platforms, will require spacecraft that can be deployed at scale while delivering significantly greater power and capability.

He said Condor-Ultra is designed to meet those requirements by combining a high-performance, scalable satellite platform with the flight-proven operations, software, and data infrastructure that Muon’s customers already use, enabling more ambitious missions without sacrificing reliability or cost efficiency.

Enabling Orbital Data Centers and AI Infrastructure.

Condor-Ultra is designed to support the emerging market for orbital data centers, combining high-power generation, advanced thermal management, and high-speed networking to handle large-scale computing workloads in space.

The platform can be scaled to higher-power configurations of up to 100 kW and is designed to support next-generation AI hardware, including the NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin Module. This positions Condor-Ultra as a potential foundation for future space-based computing and networking infrastructure.

According to Muon, its work with hyperscale computing providers on orbital AI infrastructure has helped shape the platform’s design, providing insights into the operational, networking, and computing requirements needed to support large-scale AI and data-processing systems in orbit.

Expanding Vertical Integration to Improve Scale and Economics.

With Condor-Ultra, Muon Space is deepening its vertical integration strategy by bringing critical spacecraft subsystems and components in-house. Building on capabilities already developed across avionics, propulsion, communications, guidance and control, flight software, and networking, the company aims to optimize performance at the system level rather than relying on a collection of third-party components.

Muon believes this approach improves quality control, delivery reliability, and manufacturing efficiency while lowering recurring costs. As satellite constellations grow larger and deployment economics become more demanding, the company views deep vertical integration as a prerequisite for operating at scale rather than simply a competitive advantage.

Key Capabilities of Condor-Ultra.

Condor-Ultra is designed as a high-performance, scalable satellite platform for communications, sensing, and orbital computing missions. Key features include:

• Starship-optimized deployment: Stackable architecture designed for SpaceX Starship, enabling cost-effective deployment of large satellite constellations.

• Scalable power generation: Initial configurations provide 20 kW of power, with future variants planned to scale up to 100 kW.

• AI-ready infrastructure: Support for the NVIDIA Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, enabling advanced AI inference and large-scale orbital computing workloads.

• Large payload capacity: More than 18 square meters of Earth-facing payload area for sensors, instruments, and mission-specific hardware.

• Autonomous operations: Integrated flight, networking, and ground systems designed to provide a managed, turnkey operational platform.

• Multi-mission flexibility: Capable of supporting communications, broadband connectivity, Earth observation, remote sensing, and orbital compute applications.

• 100 Gbps optical mesh networking: High-speed inter-satellite laser links enable distributed constellation architectures and space-based computing networks.

• Continuous connectivity: Always-on 25 Gbps communications through Starlink for real-time operations and data delivery.

  
  

Together, these capabilities position Condor-Ultra as a platform aimed at supporting the next generation of large-scale space infrastructure and orbital computing systems.