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Mission Space's ZOHAR Payload Triumphs at the 2025 Global Tech Awards

On August 19, 2025, Mission Space, a pioneering company in space weather intelligence, gathered attention when it announced that its ZOHAR payload won the prestigious 2025 Global Tech Award for Space Technology. This recognition underscores the significance of ZOHAR as a unique compact and low-power space weather detector, bolstered by five months of proven operational experience in orbit.

Launched earlier in 2025, ZOHAR-I represents the forefront of innovation in space instrumentation. Equipped with advanced spectrometers and Cherenkov detectors, this next-generation instrument measures the energies of electrons, alpha particles, and protons, as well as the flux of protons high above the Earth. With a remarkable sampling rate of up to 1,000 times per second across 15 different parameters, ZOHAR provides high-quality real-time insights into radiation and particle activities, which are critical for enhancing space weather forecasting capabilities.

Unlike conventional instruments, ZOHAR is designed with compactness and efficiency in mind, addressing the limitations posed by older and bulkier detection systems. Its low power consumption and small size enable it to operate on various platforms, ranging from small cubesats to larger satellites. Currently, under the operation of DPhi Space in low Earth orbit, ZOHAR is continuously supplying data to Mission Space's proprietary forecasting platform and improving prediction accuracy by over 200% when compared to traditional models.

Mary Glaz, CEO of Mission Space, expressed her enthusiasm about ZOHAR's achievements, saying, "ZOHAR demonstrates that it is possible to have world-class space weather monitoring capabilities without the extensive mass and power demands that older systems require. Our payload has already proven its effectiveness in orbit, paving the way towards a constellation of satellites that will provide valuable intelligence for various industries, ranging from satellite operations and aviation to power grid management and lunar exploration."

The recognition with the Global Tech Award is a significant milestone in Mission Space’s strategic roadmap. The company is on track to deploy a constellation of 24 satellites across two orbital planes, which will enable continuous monitoring of the Polar Cusp, an area where solar storms have a substantial impact on Earth.

The anticipated benefits of this monitoring network are considerable:

• - Satellite Operators: Enhanced drag modeling and effective anomaly detection
• - Aviation Sector: Comprehensive radiation risk assessments and support for communication along polar routes
• - Power Grid Operators and Nuclear Facilities: Localized forecasts aimed at reducing geomagnetically induced currents
• - Frontier Technologies: Providing data on lunar surface charging and radiation observation for supersonic aircraft

Mission Space uniquely combines open-source data with its own sensor measurements, weaving them through proprietary machine learning models to deliver intricate and localized insights. ZOHAR's ultra-compact and low-power hardware consistently monitors orbital conditions, while its forecasting platform integrates this information with other variables influencing the thermosphere, resulting in precise, high-resolution predictions.

For more details about this groundbreaking technology and its impacts on space weather forecasting and monitoring, visit Mission Space's website.

Whether you’re part of the aerospace industry, a technology enthusiast, or simply keen to learn more about advancements in space exploration, the impressive capabilities of the ZOHAR payload mark a significant leap forward in our understanding and monitoring of space weather. As we continue to explore and utilize space, innovations like ZOHAR will play a crucial role in keeping Earth safer from the unpredictable nature of solar activity.