Six Portuguese satellites were successfully launched into space from the United States on 30 March. The launch was broadcast live from the Pavilhão do Conhecimento in Lisbon and enthusiastically watched by dozens of people. “ Ignition and liftof ” was heard at 12:02 pm , the scheduled launch time, which was initially planned for 11:20 am , generating applause in the José Mariano Gago Auditorium at the Pavilhão do Conhecimento , Centro Ciência Viva, where the event was broadcast live. Te six satellites were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States, as part of the New Space Portugal Agenda, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Four of the satellites , Camões, Agustina, Pessoa, and Saramago, named in honour of Portuguese writers , are part of the Lusíada constellation, which will allow the creation of a maritime navigation service. It will be a kind of “Waze for the oceans,” the CEO of LusoSpace, responsible for the project, summarised. Portuguese constellation According to Ivo Vieira, the constellation, which will have fve satellites in orbit after launch (the frst , PoSAT-2 , was launched in January 2025), will enable the creation of a maritime navigation service to provide ships with real-time information. “It will allow any ship in the middle of the sea to have communications at a very afordable price and, thus, we can have a maritime internet network and create the Waze of the oceans, so that we can share the data that exists at sea, such as pirate alerts, weather, people who need support, drifting icebergs, oil spills and much more,” he added. Te frst data should be available after three months, but the service will only be “fully operational” in 2027, when the 12 satellites that make up the constellation are in orbit. On board the Falcon 9, two other satellites, which are part of the Atlantic Constellation, were also launched: a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite from the Air Force, and an optical satellite (VHRLight NexGen) under the responsibility of CEiiA and N3O. Te two satellites join the other three already in orbit of the Atlantic Constellation, reinforcing a “dual-use capability that will serve Portugal and Europe,” the director of New Space Portugal, the consortium that fnances the constellations as a whole through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, highlighted. Data collection According to Emir Sirage, the data collected through the Atlantic Constellation could be used for defence and security purposes, but will also have civilian uses in areas such as disaster response, precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, carbon mapping, security and defence. Te SAR satellite is the frst Air Force satellite launched into space, and, ac-cording to the Chief of Staf of the Air Force, it helps foster a “synergistic environment” between academia and national industry. Mission success Eight minutes and 38 seconds after launch, the frst segment of the rocket re-turned to Earth and landed on a maritime platform, and the mission was considered a success, a statement that generated further enthusiastic applause, while the second segment, which carries the satellites, continues its mission at more than 28,000 kilometres per hour.