Taiwanese firm Rapidtek this week put its second satellite in orbit to carry out LoRa-based IoT experiments to validate low power communication use cases in space.

Commissioned by the Taiwan Space Agency (Tasa) and developed with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Rapidtek’s 8U IoT CubeSat Black Kite-2 successfully launched on Monday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-16 and was successfully deployed into orbit.

With the launch of Black Kite-2, the mission has entered the phase of continuous on-orbit validation, moving towards the development of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.

Black Kite-2 continues the mission focus on on-orbit testing and performance optimisation of LEO IoT communication systems. It marks the transition from single-satellite validation to continuous mission operations. The team is building more stable and repeatable systems and workflows, laying the foundation for future constellation deployment.

“We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Tasa, ITRI, National Taipei University of Technology and National Tsing Hua University for their support and collaboration throughout the mission, which helped ensure its successful completion,” said a Rapidtek statement.

The satellite operates in a sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of around 500 to 600km. It carries Rapidtek’s Ku-band antenna module and Ka-band communication capability for high bandwidth application testing. It also includes LoRa based IoT experiments to validate low power communication use cases in space.

With Black Kite-2 in orbit, Rapidtek (rapidtek.net) will continue the programme with two more 8U CubeSats scheduled for launch, advancing the development of a LEO IoT satellite constellation and strengthening end-to-end space communication capabilities.