There’s An Actual Satellite In Space Called “XCOM”

Hello, Commander. We have received reports that the US Naval Research Laboratory has launched two new satellites into orbit around the Earth. One of them is called: XCOM.

what’s XCOM? https://t.co/wXzxNWKw3s ????????

— U. S. Naval Research Laboratory (@USNRL) May 8, 2019

Since it’s researching X-ray communications, the “XCOM” name kinda writes itself! But the team behind it also knew exactly what they were doing when they named it, because check out the satellite’s logo (this is Jake Solomon, lead designer on XCOM and XCOM 2):

And here is the official project badge, so yeah, they’re going all in. In actuality that’s pretty cool. pic.twitter.com/7qaRtceVWO

— Jake Solomon (@SolomonJake) May 8, 2019

If that doesn’t look familiar, here’s XCOM’s logo from the game:

Nice.

You can read about the satellite’s job here; I recommend you do, because the brief contains the sentence “X-rays can pierce the hot plasma sheath that builds up as spacecraft hurdle through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.”