Family-level launch record combining canonical variants, historical missions, public cadence forecasts, and available payload performance specs.
Historical missions are grouped by actual launch year. Forecast cadence uses family-level launch-rate rows.
| Year | Historical missions | Forecast launches |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 3 | 0 |
| 1965 | 3 | 0 |
| 1966 | 3 | 0 |
| 1968 | 2 | 0 |
| 1973 | 3 | 0 |
| 1975 | 1 | 0 |
Payload capacity by variant and target orbit when structured capacity rows are available.
| Variant | Orbit | Capacity | Altitude | Inclination | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No performance specsNo structured payload capacity rows are linked to this vehicle family. | |||||
Canonical variants rolled up into this launch vehicle family.
| Variant | Stages | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Saturn IB | Not stated | 8 | Retired |
Saturn I Blk2 | Not stated | 6 | Retired |
Uprated Saturn I | Not stated | 1 | Retired |
Saturn IB |
| May 25, 1973 |
| Apollo 7 Mission | Saturn IB | Oct 11, 1968 |
| Apollo 5 | Saturn IB | Jan 22, 1968 |
| Launch 1966-U06 | Saturn IB | Aug 25, 1966 |
| AS-203 | Uprated Saturn I | Jul 5, 1966 |
Upcoming mission rows with announced launch timing.
| Mission | Variant | Announced |
|---|---|---|
No forecasted missionsNo upcoming announced mission rows are linked to this vehicle family. | ||
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is preparing to test a robotic prototype called the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) to explore Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
NASA has allocated a single Multi-Mission RTG (MMRTG) and up to 24 RHUs for the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, launching in 2027.
Blue Canyon’s X-SAT Saturn bus could be used for Space Development Agency Tracking Layer satellites or for the Transport Layer of communications satellites.
The Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan received $400,100,000 in fiscal year 2023 funding.
The seven satellites under the $250,000,000 contract will be built on Saturn-class microsatellite buses made by Raytheon subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies.
Saturn Satellite Networks selected CesiumAstro’s Vireo-GEO active phased array RF payload for Saturn’s Space BroadbandNetworks-1 (SBN-1).
The SBN-1 payloads will be developed at CesiumAstro’s facilities in Austin, Texas for integration in Saturn’s low-cost GEO platform, the Intelligent Space Node (ISN), in its partner’s Silicon Valley facilities.
NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn, launched in 1997, relied on Northrop Grumman SSIRU navigation to explore Saturn and several of its moons, including flybys of Titan and Enceladus.
The Intelligent Space Node (ISN) platform is an evolution of the NationSat platform that Saturn developed three years earlier after investing in NovaWurks.
The NGSO mission in the second half of 2024 aims to demonstrate a broadband constellation called Curvanet that is being developed by Saturn sister company Curvalux.
Saturn has signed a memorandum of understanding with a preeminent heavy lift launch system operator to deploy all six SBN-1 satellites on a single mission in the second half of 2025.
Saturn has executed a launch agreement with a U.S.-based company to deploy its first satellite to NGSO in the second half of 2024.
Saturn developed the NationSat platform after investing in California-based NovaWurks.
Saturn offers a version of the ISN platform designed for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO).
Saturn will start ordering parts and conduct preliminary and critical design reviews once it finalizes contracts with equity investors to commence manufacturing, assembly, and testing for SBN-1.
Swissto12 announced a collaboration last year with U.S.-based GEO smallsat manufacturing startup Saturn Satellite Network.
Blue Canyon Technologies’ Saturn product with deep-space enhancements will provide Quantum Space with a quiet, stable, and agile spacecraft architecture for QS-1.
The Saturn-class small satellite bus shipped to DARPA was the first Blackjack bus to achieve environmental testing.
Under the DARPA contract, Blue Canyon is producing Saturn-class small satellite buses that can carry payloads up to 200 kg.
Blue Canyon Technologies delivered one Saturn-class microsatellite bus for the DARPA Blackjack Program.