Snakes, Sharks, and Ghosts: Space Force Reveals Themes for Naming Platforms

ORLANDO, Fla.—In a move to better connect Guardians with the space systems they operate, the Space Force on Dec. 11 revealed a new naming scheme for its platforms.  

In a keynote speech at the Spacepower Conference, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman announced the seven themes the service will use to name satellites and ground systems that it operates today and that it adds to the fleet in the future.  

“Much like the Army has the Abrams tank and the Air Force has the Fighting Falcon, we needed a way to own the identity of our space systems as they enter the joint fight,” Saltzman said. “These symbols conjure the character of the systems, the importance of their mission, and the identity of the Guardians who employ them.” 

Those categories, chosen by Guardians over the last year, are:

Orbital warfare: Norse pantheon
Cyber warfare: Mythological creatures
Satellite communications: Constellations
Space domain awareness: Ghosts
Electromagnetic warfare: Snakes
Missile warning: Sentinels
Navigation warfare: Sharks

Along with the seven categories, Saltzman announced names for two systems: the legacy Ultra-High Frequency Follow-on constellation, made up of communication satellites in geostationary orbit and operated by the 10th Space Operations Squadron, is now known as Ursa Major; and the Operationally Responsive Space-5 spacecraft, a space domain awareness satellite in low-Earth orbit flown by the 1st Space Operations Squadron, is dubbed Bifrost. In Norse mythology, Bifrost is a bridge that connects the human and godly realms.

The service has a separate designation system adopted in 2023 to identify spacecraft platforms. The document assigns a basic mission designator, such as “A” for attack or “M” for meteorological, that describes a system’s primary mission. It also dictates a second designator that describes what orbital regime the platform operates in; an “L” indicates low Earth orbit, “D” signifies deep space, and so on.

Speaking with reporters at the conference, Saltzman said he views the name selection process and Guardians’ involvement in it as important for the service’s still-developing culture. Saltzman first reached out to Guardians to help name Space Force systems in an October 2024 memo to the force. At the time, he said the naming conventions would only be used for systems developed after 2023, though it now appears the service will also rename older systems.  

“This is just having a culture where the people responsible for the mission feel directly connected to it,” he said. “And it’s hard to get connected to a program name or some number system that works in the catalog of weapon systems.” 

A Space Force spokesperson said the service will roll out additional system names and themes moving forward but hasn’t committed to a timeline for completing the process.