GOMX-5 Successfully Launched

The latest technology demonstration CubeSat from ESA’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) and developed with Danish company GOMSpace, launched yesterday evening, 1 October 2026, onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-18 mission.  

GOMX-5 is an In Orbit Demonstration mission, which aims to demonstrate several new technologies in Space.   

As space becomes increasingly crowded, reducing the risk of collisions is critical to preventing the creation of new space debris. A key objective for the mission is commissioning its new propulsion system within 48 hours of launch to be able to undertake collision avoidance manoeuvres, as required by ESA’s new space debris mitigation policy.  

To accomplish this, GOMSpace engineers have developed a largely automated platform commissioning procedure, aiming to reduce the time required between deployment of the satellite and the commissioning of the critical subsystems of the satellite. The operations team will be eagerly awaiting confirmation that this procedure succeeded and that the spacecraft is in good health, so that they can proceed with the final checks that will enable them to be ready to fire the electrical propulsion on-board GOMX-5 in case of need. 

“The operations team will have a challenging Launch and Early Operations phase, checking that these early automated operations worked successfully and that the platform is commissioned as quickly as possible. This requires a lot of focus and preparation.” explains David Palma, the ESA Technical Officer in charge of the mission. “Then over the coming weeks we’ll learn how these new technologies, such as the new antennas, radios and on-board computers, are performing and hopefully in a few months we can conclude the technology demonstration mission with success.” 

As a technology demonstration mission, GOMX-5 has several new technologies and payloads on board which have never flown in space before.  

Beyond commissioning the propulsion system, the mission will also demonstrate a tracking solar panel, as used onboard Hera’s Juventas CubeSat, and a maritime awareness payload. 

Monitoring activity at sea is essential for maritime security, particularly in remote regions where boats may not be visible to conventional tracking systems. GOMX-5 will demonstrate how a compact synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can detect ships from low-Earth orbit (LEO), helping identify vessels and improving awareness of maritime activity worldwide. 

Once the payloads are successfully demonstrated, the ESA GSTP activity is concluded, and the operations are fully handed over to GOMSpace for the remainder of the mission.  

GOMX-5 has been developed as part of GSTP’s Element 3, Fly and is the latest in a series of technology demonstration GOMX CubeSats developed with GOMSpace under GSTP, including GOMX-4B and GOMX-3 –ESA’s very first technology CubeSat to fly.  

Transporter 18 is a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission and GOMX-5 will share the journey with 129 other payloads, including other CubeSats. The launch window opened at 20:17 CEST and the mission launched shortly after..