The U.S. Space Force will soon start naming its weapons, communications and space systems after themes including Norse mythology and ghosts.
Space Force shared the plans on Thursday, framing them in bright and colorful art pieces that look like something out of card games such as Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh. Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman unveiled the thematic naming schemes during his keynote address at the 2025 Space Force Association’s Spacepower Conference. They will be used to help guardians come up with “popular names” for each system, rather than dry official designations.
The seven naming themes are:
- Orbital warfare: Norse pantheon
- Electromagnetic warfare: Snakes
- Cyber warfare: Mythological creatures
- Navigation warfare: Sharks
- Satellite communications: Constellations
- Missile warning: Sentinels
- Space domain awareness: Ghosts
“After a lot of feedback and deliberation, we’ve chosen to represent each of our mission areas with specific symbology. These symbols conjure the character of the systems, the importance of their mission, and the identity of the Guardians who employ them,” Saltzman said.
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According to Saltzman, Space Force guardians helped to come up with the themes. The service took steps to make sure it didn’t run into copyright issues. “We had to find categories that you could use, like ghosts or constellations or things that nobody could claim ownership of,” Saltzman said, per SpaceNews. So unfortunately, Space Force will not be fielding weapons systems nicknamed after Jedi or captains of the Enterprise. There will be no “Star Destroyer,” “Borg” or “Nostromo.”
Saltzman laid out the reasoning behind some of the names. The Norse pantheon, he said, represents “the power and dominance of orbital warfare.” Ghosts evoke “the silent presence of space domain awareness.” It’s not clear how specific some of the names will be; for all of the various Norse gods, there are only so many types of ghosts, particularly if Space Force is adamant about avoiding copyrights.
The new themes meant to help give guardians more of a connection with the different systems and make some of the more easily identifiable. Space Force compared the plan for popular names to how the other branches nickname fighter jets, such as how the F/A-18 is a “Super Hornet” or the F-22 is a “Raptor.” It’s the latest intentional move by the service to try and create a distinct culture for Space Force. It only recently unveiled its own unique formal dress uniform, now it is working on making its weapons and communications platforms more familiar.
Task & Purpose contacted Space Force for more information on how the specific themes were chosen, and why they were revealed with that playing card-style art, but as of press time has not heard back.
Some units are already using the themes. Saltzman pointed to the 1st Space Operations Squadron, which dubbed its ORS-5 surveillance satellite “Bifrost.” In Norse mythology, the Bifrost is the bridge between Earth and the realm of the gods; the satellite operates in Low-Earth Orbit.
The “popular name” schemes comes roughly two years after Space Force laid out its rules for official designations. In 2023, Space Force announced its conventions for formal designations, with revision since then. It calls for a two-letter designation, with the first defining its purpose (i.e. E for electromagnetic warfare) and the second letter defining where in orbit or on Earth it will be (for instance, T would be for terrestrial-based systems, while L is for Low-Earth Orbit).
Space Force is currently fielding a mix of satellites in orbit and sensors and jammers on the ground. It also has a space plane, the X-37B, that is currently deployed in space for tests.
It’s unclear if there will be additional themes to come, or if Space Force will be issuing booster packs with new cards to help guardians identify each system.
