MANTIS

MANTIS was an Earth observation satellite developed by the UK-based company Open Cosmos with support of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The 12U CubeSat successfully demonstrated the integrated Standard Imager for Microsatellites (iSIM), a high-resolution multispectral imager designed for small satellites, as well as in-orbit data processing. MANTIS was the first space mission supported by ESA's InCubed programme managed by the agency's ɸ-lab. The satellite was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket on 11 November 2023, delivered its first Earth images on 20 November 2023, and completed its mission by safely deorbiting in October 2025. MANTIS was used in de-risking technologies for Atlantic Constellation Pathfinder, UKSA's contribution to the international Atlantic Constellation.