With possibly more than 4000 satellites launched in 2025, mostly by SpaceX followed China, Canada’s total is quite modest at 12. However, for Canada it is the second highest total ever, with 2023 only higher at 23.
Is it fair to compare Canada’s output to SpaceX and China? No, of course not. SpaceX has launched 3113 Starlinks satellites as of this morning for the year along with 89 Starshield satellites. The 3202 launched by SpaceX is a staggering number and is their highest total yet for any year.
Only one government department launched satellites this year, Defence Research and Development Canada, part of the Department of National Defence (DND), launched a trio of small satellites as part of Project Grey Jay on the SpaceX Transporter-12 mission in January.
The Grey Jay constellation is providing the DND with remote surveillance and situational awareness in Canada’s Arctic. The three satellite constellation flies in close formation in low Earth orbit.
Wyvern launched two Earth observation payloads this year, also on SpaceX Transporter missions, one in March and the other a few weeks back. The Dragonette-004 and Dragonette-005 have a hyperspectral sensor on the YAM-8 and YAM-9 satellites built by Loft Orbital as part of their “space Infrastructure as-a-service” product line.
GHGSat launched four methane monitoring satellites this year. Two were launched in June, and another two in November. Both batches were also launched SpaceX Transporter missions.
EarthDaily, Galaxia Mission Control Systems and Mission Control all launched one satellites and once again, all on SpaceX Transporter missions.
Payload Name Organization Launch Type Launch Provider Launch Date (EST) Project Grey Jay-1 Government of Canada (DRDC) Government Transporter 12 – SpaceX 1/14/2025 14:09 Project Grey Jay-2 Government of Canada (DRDC) Government Transporter 12 – SpaceX 1/14/2025 14:09 Project Grey Jay-3 Government of Canada (DRDC) Government Transporter 12 – SpaceX 1/14/2025 14:09 Dragonette-004 Wyvern Commercial Transporter 13 – SpaceX 3/15/2025 1:43 EDA-1 EarthDaily Analytics Commercial Transporter 14 – SpaceX 6/23/2025 17:18 MÖBIUS-1 Galaxia Mission Systems Commercial Transporter 14 – SpaceX 6/23/2025 17:18 GHGSat-C12 GHGSat Commercial Transporter 14 – SpaceX 6/23/2025 17:18 GHGSat-C13 GHGSat Commercial Transporter 14 – SpaceX 6/23/2025 17:18 Lemur 6 Mission Control Space Services Commercial Transporter 14 – SpaceX 6/23/2025 17:18 GHGSat-C14 GHGSat Commercial Transporter 15 – SpaceX 11/28/2025 13:44 GHGSat-C15 GHGSat Commercial Transporter 15 – SpaceX 11/28/2025 13:44 Dragonette-005 Wyvern Commercial Transporter 15 – SpaceX 11/28/2025 13:44
Other organizations originally planned to launch satellites in 2025 but didn’t included Kepler Communications and the University of Toronto Aerospace Team. As well, while EarthDaily Analytics did launch a satellite this year, it had originally planned to launch 10.
We’re currently tracking 41 Canadian possible payload launches in 2026 and 174 for 2027. Look for another story shortly on what to expect in 2026 for Canadian payload launches.