Key facts
- Titania weighs around 100kg and orbits Earth every ninety minutes at twenty-seven thousand kilometres per hour, the MoD said.
- Titania was built in Hampshire by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and BAE Systems under a £9.5 million contract.
- Project Inaros is a trial of an advanced sensor network monitoring space from three sites around the world.
- The MoD said more than £3 billion of defence investment over four years backs UK space capabilities.
- Satellites Juno, with SSTL, and Oberon, with Airbus Defence and Space, will follow Titania, the MoD said.
The UK's Ministry of Defence said on November 7, 2026 that the British-built military satellite Titania had successfully launched and was in orbit, giving the Armed Forces a new pair of eyes in space. The launch was completed last month, the ministry said.
Titania is the second satellite in the UK's growing constellation of military satellites, following the launch of Tyche in October, and will be operated by UK Space Command as part of the ISTARI programme. Like Tyche, Titania weighs around 100kg, about the size of a washing machine, and orbits Earth every ninety minutes at twenty-seven thousand kilometres per hour, according to the ministry.
The ministry also said it had stood up Project Inaros, a trial of an advanced network of sensors designed to monitor space from three sites around the world. Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting said: "Having Titania now in orbit and Project Inaros stepping up how we watch over our satellites means we can see threats sooner, making the UK safer."
Titania was designed and built in Hampshire by the partnership of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and BAE Systems as part of a £9.5 million contract, the ministry said. It will be followed by satellites Juno, with SSTL, and Oberon, with Airbus Defence and Space. The ministry said more than £3 billion of defence investment over the next four years backs UK space capabilities.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, the Chief of the Air Staff, said: "The ability to observe the Earth from space is critical to both national resilience and military advantage."