SOARS

SOARS (mounted on PPOD) [DARPA]

SOARS (Space Object Automated Reporting Systems) is a payload provided by Virginia-based company Tiger Innovations that will test a beacon for space traffic management and space situational awareness.

SOARS combines space-object beacons; automated, low-cost, ground collection sites; and a central control center which together provide near-real time 24/7 location data to support space situational awareness, space domain awareness and orbital safety activities. The SOARS beacon being launched will enable system performance testing under actual orbital conditions, allowing Tiger Innovations to refine and mature the beacon technology while supporting ground station operations and data integration utilizing real world data.

SOARS is to be launched in February 2020 as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge on the maiden flight of the Astra Rocket-3.0 as an attached payload on the PPOD fixed to the launch vehicle's stage two. But as the rocket was not able to lift off during the challenge's launch window, the payloads were returned to the owners.

The SOARS payload was then rescheduled to be flown attached to the Sherpa-FX 1 deployer on a ride-share mission on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) rocket, but it was subsequently again removed from Sherpa-FX.