The UK Ministry of Defence has successfully launched its first wholly-owned satellite, 'Tyche', designed to provide crucial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The satellite will be the bedrock of a planned constellation of similar spacecraft, bolstering the UK's space-based defence capabilities by 2031.

Tyche, roughly the size of a washing machine, was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of...