Three NASA-supported spacecraft launched from California on October 1, carrying experiments that range from the chemistry of propulsion to the way starlight escapes galaxies. NASA confirmed the launch at 11:32 a.m. Pacific time aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

One passenger, the ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode CubeSat, will test whether a single supply of propellant can serve two very different needs. A chemical thruster provides stronger pushes; four electrospray thrusters handle lower-power operations. Sharing the propellant and feed system could reduce the equipment required to combine those capabilities on a small spacecraft.

The mission’s name refers to Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic, a low-toxicity propellant. In a September 25 technical update, NASA described leak checks, thermal-vacuum testing and spin testing of the flight hardware. The planned demonstration begins with checkout and short maneuvers, followed, if successful, by repeated orbit-raising and lowering using both propulsion modes. Launching the hardware is the start of that test, not proof that the approach works in orbit.

SPRITE, meanwhile, is an astronomy mission built at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Its far-ultraviolet instrument will study massive stars, supernova remnants and radiation moving out of galaxies. The laboratory’s September 29 mission preview describes an instrument that combines imaging and spectroscopy, helping researchers compare different regions within a galaxy rather than treating each as a single point.

Those measurements could illuminate how radiation changed the early universe’s neutral gas. SPRITE will investigate related processes through closer targets, rather than directly watching the universe’s first stars. It also provides a flight test for mirror coatings and detectors intended to inform future ultraviolet observatories.

The third effort is SSPICY, short for Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability. Starfish Space’s Otter 24C spacecraft is expected to inspect up to four inactive U.S.-origin satellites in low Earth orbit, with inspections beginning in 2027. Cameras, autonomous navigation and propulsion technology will help it examine their surfaces, shapes and orbital behavior.

NASA describes SSPICY as a step toward future inspection, servicing and disposal capabilities. Its announced job is to gather information; the launch does not mean those defunct satellites have been repaired or removed.