Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 and Electron expand satellite constellations

This week's manifest includes the delayed launches of a Falcon 9 carrying the Galileo GPS satellites and an Electron carrying a second batch of satellites for Kinéis. SpaceX also launched a batch of 20 Starlink satellites from California, bringing the constellation to 6,000 operational satellites.

Following the return and recovery of the Polaris Dawn crew aboard the Crew Dragon last weekend ResilienceThe crew of Soyuz MS-25 is scheduled to return to Earth next week and will spend this week preparing for their return. Undocking from the International Space Station is scheduled for the early hours of Monday, September 23. On board will be NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.

Angara 1.2 | Cosmos 2577 and 2578

Without much warning, Russia's Angara 1.2 has launched a secret payload into a sun-synchronous orbit, the vehicle's first flight this year and its third orbital mission since it entered service in April 2022.

The launch took place on Tuesday, September 17 at 07:00 UTC from Site 35/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. On board were two secret Russian military satellites. This two-stage launch vehicle is 42.7 m tall, has a 2.9 m wide fairing and burns a Russian grade of kerosene called RG-1 with liquid oxygen.

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Galileo FOC FM26 and FM32

After several delays, Falcon 9 launched a pair of Galileo global tracking satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:51 p.m. EDT (10:51 p.m. UTC) on Tuesday, September 17. This mission, the 13th for the Galileo constellation, was originally scheduled to launch on Soyuz and then Ariane 6, but was eventually awarded to SpaceX along with another pair of European satellites due to delays with Ariane 6.

The two 700 kg satellites were built by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the European Union (EU) and placed in a medium Earth orbit at an altitude of around 23,000 km. The Galileo constellation is part of the EU's high-precision positioning system and is expected to comprise a total of 30 satellites in three evenly distributed orbits, with three satellites serving as backups. The satellites will ultimately allow Europe to be independent of the US GPS system or Russia's GLONASS system.

Illustration of the Galileo satellites being undocked from Falcon 9. (Source: European Union)

The first Galileo satellites were activated in 2011 and the system became operational in 2019. The two previous satellites launched by SpaceX, numbered 29 and 30, have just completed their in-orbit tests. They entered full operation just over a week ago after reaching their final orbit, which puts the satellites at an altitude of 23,222 km.

On the last Galileo mission, launched on Falcon 9, booster B1060 was consumed on its 20th flight. Booster B1067 supported this mission on its 22nd flight and landed on the autonomous drone ship about 670 km away Just read the instructions, which left Port Canaveral last Friday. This stage is currently the lead of the fleet and has previously launched four missions to the International Space Station, including Crew-3, Crew-4, and the cargo missions CRS-22 and CRS-25. This booster has been active since June 2021 and has also supported 12 Starlink missions, including Merah Putih 2, Hotbird 13G, and Türksat 5B, among others.

This was a groundbreaking mission with the highest-energy Falcon 9 landing to date. The mission profile included the fastest main engine shutdown (MECO) of any recovered Falcon 9 booster and a high-speed reentry at 6,000 km/h after completion of entry burn. This was the 170th global orbital launch attempt of the year, SpaceX's 90th mission of 2024, and the 206th from this launch pad. The next mission from this launch pad will be Crew-9 on September 25.

Chang Zheng 3B/YZ-1 | BeiDou-3

The first of three planned launches from China this week carried two more global tracking satellites for the BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) into medium Earth orbit. The launch occurred at 01:14 UTC on Thursday, September 19, from LC-2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

This was the fifth Chang Zheng 3B flight this year, which placed the 59th and 60th BeiDou satellites into orbit. This constellation is an alternative to the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and is said to be ten times more accurate than that system with post-processing. It is believed that this launch also tested a parachute system on one or more of the boosters, which can return boosters or fairings weighing up to 4,000 kg to the ground for later recovery.

Chang Zheng 2D launches more Jilin-1 satellites from LC-9 at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (Source: CCTV)

Chang Zheng 2D | Jilin-1 Wideband 02B – 01 to 06

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched a Chang Zheng 2D from LC-9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China's Shanxi Province at 04:11 UTC on Friday, September 20. This was the 91st mission of this two-stage orbital carrier built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST).

On board were six ultra-wideband observation satellites, offering users 0.5m resolution at a width of 150km and high-speed data transmission. This brings the number of Jilin-1 satellites in orbit to 114, named after Jilin province, where satellite operator and developer Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. is based. The cargo also included the first of a new Qilian series, designed to support forest and grassland protection in Gansu, as well as wildfire prevention and disaster monitoring.

Shenzhen 1A |

ExPace launched its Kuaizhou 1A carrier for the third time this year, carrying four more satellites for the Tianqi Internet of Things (IoT) constellation in low Earth orbit. The launch occurred six hours after the CZ-2D mission on Friday, September 20, at 09:43 UTC from the mobile launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

This four-stage vehicle is 3.4 m high, has a 1.4 m wide fairing and can launch 300 kg into low Earth orbit. It has previously launched various payloads into sun-synchronous orbit, such as the small weather satellites for the Tianmu-1 constellation.

Booster B1075 landed on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” as part of the Starlink Group 9-17 mission (Source: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 9-17

Starlink Group 9-17, the only Starlink mission scheduled for this week, was delayed throughout the week and finally launched at 7:50 a.m. PDT (14:50 UTC) on Friday, September 20, from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 carried a load of 20 Starlink v2 mini-satellites on a southeasterly trajectory, 13 of which were the direct-to-cell variant.

Booster B1075 supported this mission on its 13th flight and landed on the autonomous drone ship Of course I still love you about eight minutes after launch. This first stage has been active since January 2023 and has supported Transporter 11, SARah 1, and the first tracking and tranche layer mission for the USSF, among nine other Starlink missions.

This mission will bring the number of operational Starlink satellites in orbit to over 6,000. Earlier this week, 7,022 satellites were launched, of which 607 have returned to orbit, leaving 5,996 still in their operational orbits.

Last week, the Starlink constellation was tested multiple times from above the constellation's orbit during the Polaris Dawn mission. One test demonstrated the constellation's connectivity capabilities with an uninterrupted crew video call that lasted over 40 minutes.

Electron is rolled onto the launch pad for its 53rd mission. (Source: Rocket Lab)

Electron / Curie | Kinéis killed the RadIoT star

Rocket Lab is preparing to launch the second batch of nanosatellites for customer Kinéis, the global Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity provider, on the “Kinéis Killed The RadIoT Star” mission. The first batch of satellites was launched into orbit in June on the “No Time Toulouse” mission aboard an Electron rocket, beginning the build of a planned constellation of 25 nanosatellites, each weighing 30 kg.

The launch was originally scheduled for Monday, September 16, from Launch Pad A at Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, but was postponed to Wednesday, September 18 due to adverse weather conditions. This launch attempt was aborted due to a ground equipment issue after engine ignition at T-0, and the mission has now been rescheduled for Saturday, September 21, at 12:01 NZST (00:01 UTC). The launch window is available immediately, with additional opportunities on subsequent days. This mission will be Electron's 53rd mission to date, placing the satellites at an altitude of 643 km in an orbit inclined at 98 degrees. This mission brings the total number of satellites launched by Rocket Lab to 192.

Only an abort triggered by a ground device not reaching its destination within the allotted time. We want everything on the ground to be as happy as everything in the sky.

— Peter Beck (@Peter_J_Beck) 18 September 2024

The Curie launch stage will perform an eight-second burn after circularization to deploy the satellites at precise positions. After deploying the satellites, Curie will perform a burn that lowers the perigee to shorten its orbital period. Additional batches of five satellites are expected to be launched on subsequent Electron missions in November and December, with a final batch scheduled for launch next February.

(Main image: Falcon 9 launches Galileo L13 mission from SLC-40 – Image credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)