#creativecallsigns

By Harri Laitinen

Walk through any lab at Interstellar Communication Holdings Inc., and you’ll eventually find it: a whiteboard, scribbled with names. Some are underlined. Others circled. A few… have stars next to them.

It’s not a launch list. It’s not a to-do chart.

It’s the Satellite Naming Wall—a space where our users, team members, and collaborators jot down their ideas for what to call the satellites they help create.

And let me tell you: the creativity is out of this world.

From mythology to memes, from Shakespeare to Star Trek, our community has turned satellite naming into an art form. Because for many, this isn’t just a project. It’s personal.

Why Names Matter in Orbit

Sure, every satellite gets a technical ID—like "ICM-01" or a registry number. But those aren't the names people remember.

People remember HADES-ICM, our PocketQube launched with Alba Orbital. They remember callsigns like ASTROMUSE, JELLYBEAM, or NANOTROOPER—because those names reflect something more than function.

They reflect story.

Naming is the moment where the mission becomes real. It’s where a few grams of metal and code becomes something with personality, with purpose.

Inside the Naming Process

Some icMercury users pick their names early—before a circuit is even soldered. Others wait until their satellite has passed thermal testing or integration.

The inspiration comes from:

Mythology: Names like Selene, Anubis, Tlaloc, or Puck

Pop Culture: From DobbySat to GroguBeacon

Family Tributes: One user named theirs after their grandmother’s radio handle

Jokes & Puns: Like LoCube (for a particularly minimal design)

Cultural Roots: Regional languages, traditional phrases, or local flora/fauna

Science & Math: Acronyms like FIRMA (Flexible Imaging Relay for Micro Atmospheres)

And yes, we’ve had at least three satellites named after cats. (One even transmits a “meow” in Morse code.)

Community Challenges and Polls

To keep things fun—and inclusive—we often run naming challenges before big launches:

Submit a name with a short backstory

Vote on your favorite from a shortlist

Win a mission patch if your entry flies

Sometimes the best names come from unexpected places—a student who draws a comic about their payload, or a teacher who asks their whole class to brainstorm ideas during lunch.

Callsigns in Action

Once the satellite’s in orbit, that name becomes more than just flair—it’s how the world recognizes the mission.

It gets spoken aloud by ham radio operators. It gets typed into tracking dashboards and heard in decoded beacons. It becomes the voice of the satellite itself.

What Will You Name Yours?

As we prepare for the 2025 Go Global Awards in London, we’re celebrating the fact that PocketQubes aren’t just technical platforms—they’re creative canvases.

So the next time you see a tiny satellite pass overhead, blinking its signal across the sky, remember: it probably has a name. And behind that name? A person. A moment. A message.