S-CLASS Satellite Bus — Space Development Agency Tranche 1 Transport Layer
Description
York Space Systems (a Voyager Space company) is a US manufacturer of the S-CLASS modular small satellite bus designed for rapid, low-cost production at scale. The S-CLASS is a 165 kg class satellite featuring a standardized interface and modular payload accommodation, enabling York to manufacture large constellations at high cadence. York was selected by the US Space Development Agency (SDA) to build 21 data transport layer satellites (Tranche 1) for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) — the US DoD's planned 100+ LEO satellite mesh network for low-latency military communications and missile warning. These satellites were launched on September 10, 2025 from Vandenberg SFB on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Each Tranche 1 data transport satellite features inter-satellite optical links for cross-satellite data transfer, Ka-band user terminals, and UHF/SHF communication links for DoD users. York Space Systems has also produced satellites for commercial remote sensing customers and supports the LEO constellation market with its industrial-scale manufacturing approach.