EO·Atlas
YAM-6
Compiled from public sources on 2026-05-24. Not independently verified by Loft Orbital.
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YAM-6 (Yet Another Mission 6) is a smallsat operated by Loft Orbital, launched 4 March 2024 on a Falcon 9 Transporter-10 rideshare from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 4E.[1] The satellite carries NORAD catalogue number 59126 and the COSPAR designation 2024-043AE, orbiting in a sun-synchronous orbit at 97.55 degree inclination and approximately 463 km mean altitude (range 458-468 km), with a 93.7-minute period and near-circular eccentricity.[2][3]
YAM-6 has an 83 kg bus mass. Loft Orbital confirmed that YAM-8 is the first mission on the Longbow bus,[4] while the YAM-6 mission blog and community tracking sources describe the spacecraft as using the same standardised bus as prior YAM missions.[5][1]
YAM-6 is the first Loft Orbital virtual mission satellite. Rather than customers purchasing dedicated spacecraft, YAM-6 enables customers to deploy software applications on-orbit via Loft Orbital Cockpit, accessing the hosted payload suite without owning the hardware.[5][6] The satellite carries five hosted payloads: a hyperspectral imager (the payload customer has not been publicly identified as of May 2026), an RGB imager, a software-defined radio, an inter-satellite link for real-time connectivity, and a CPU/GPU compute payload supporting on-orbit AI workloads including image processing and change detection.[5] YAM-6 remained operational as of May 2026.[2][7]
All fields
| current status | Operational |
| operator | Loft Orbital |
| platform | Longbow Satellite Platform |
| launch vehicle | SpaceX Transporter Smallsat Rideshare Programme |
| Launched | 2024-03-04 |
| orbit type | SSO, Falcon 9 Transporter-10 rideshare, Vandenberg SLC-4E |
| tasking supported | No |
| Last updated | 2026-05-24 |
| claim status | Unclaimed |
Supply chain position
- [1]YAM-3, YAM-5, YAM-6 -- Gunter's Space Pagecommunity2026-05-24
- [2]YAM-6 orbital elements -- In-the-Sky.org (NORAD 59126)community2026-05-24
- [3]YAM-6: The Rise of the Virtual Mission -- Loft Orbital blogoperator marketing2026-05-24
- [4]YAM-8: Entering the Longbow Era -- Loft Orbital blog (confirms YAM-8 is first Longbow)operator marketing2026-05-24
- [5]YAM-6 satellite details -- N2YO (NORAD 59126)community2026-05-24
- [6]Loft Orbital virtual missions -- TechCrunchoperator press2026-05-24
- [7]Anywaves collaboration with Loft Orbital YAM missionsoperator press2026-05-24
How to cite this page
Plain text
YAM-6. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-24. https://eo-atlas.org/missions/yam-6 (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:missions:yam-6,
title = {YAM-6},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-24. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/missions/yam-6}
}