Launch Roundup: three back-to-back Starlink missions to cross 5,000 Starlink satellites launched

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Following a plethora of launches last week, the week of Aug. 14 through Aug. 20 is set to have four orbital launches—most of which are SpaceX Starlink launches. The week started with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) launching the HEAD-3A/B/C/D/E satellites atop its Kuaxzhou 1A rocket. After that, SpaceX will launch three back-to-back Starlink missions, starting with Starlink Group 6-10 from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), followed by Group 7-1 from SLC-4 East at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Finally, the Starlink Group 6-11 mission will end the week, launching from SLC-40.

These missions mark the 126th through 129th orbital launch attempts of 2023 — a cadence that, if kept up, will lead to over 200 orbital launches this year. Additionally, if SpaceX’s cadence continues to grow at the same rate, the company is on track to launch just under 100 times in 2023.

Kuaizhou 1A | HEAD-3A/B/C/D/E

On Monday, Aug. 14, the CASIC successfully launched five commercial ship/traffic automatic identification system tracking satellites. Launching at 05:32 UTC from the mobile launcher pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, the vehicle placed the payloads into a 694 by 704-kilometer orbit inclined 45.00 degrees. These microsatellites will be used by the Chinese government to track and monitor ships and commercial vehicles, allowing for tracking of goods across the area.

This launch marked the 22nd launch of Kuaizhou 1A and the fourth of 2023.

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-10

SpaceX’s first Starlink mission of the week will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 8:14 PM EDT (00:14 UTC on Aug. 17) from SLC-40 at the CCSFS in Florida. This mission will launch 22 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 284 by 294-kilometer orbit inclined 43.00 degrees. To get there, Falcon 9 will utilize its standard two-burn profile, with payloads deploying one hour and six minutes after liftoff.

The booster supporting this mission is B1067-13, which has previously supported CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Hotbird 13G, O3b mPOWER 1&2, Satria, and four Starlink missions. This will mark the 180th Falcon 9 flight with a flight-proven booster. However, following liftoff, the first stage will conduct the usual two-burn profile to land on SpaceX’s autonomous spaceport droneship (ASDS) A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was tugged ~640 kilometers downrange by Doug.

Following a reduction in fleet size, SpaceX utilizes Doug for ASDS support, tugging, and fairing recovery — reducing the need from four marine assets per launch to two or three. The Coast Guard mandates that a ship must be near the ASDS, disallowing the drone ship to be on its own while Bob or Doug recover fairings. Because of this, and SpaceX’s high launch cadence, SpaceX sends out a third boat that generally swaps between missions to fulfill the Coast Guard’s mandates.

As noted, Doug will attempt fairing recovery on this mission ~670 kilometers downrange. While it is currently unknown if the fairings on this mission are flight-proven or not, they will most likely be flight-proven, as over 92% of SpaceX launches this year have reused at least one fairing half.

SpaceX and the 45th Space Wing will be watching the weather closely, with the weather only 20% go for launch at the start of the window and 65% go at the end. In the event of a delay, SpaceX has three backup T0s and another launch window 24 hours later.

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 7-1

SpaceX is expected to launch another Starlink mission on Thursday, Aug. 17 at ~12:00 AM PDT (07:00 UTC). This mission, dubbed Starlink Group 7-1, will be the first Group 7 launch. Falcon 9 will lift off from SLC-4E at the VSFB and place 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 286 by 296-kilometer orbit at 53.05 degrees.

The booster, B1061-15, has supported two crewed missions — Crew-1 and Crew-2 — SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, two transporter missions, Globalstar FM15, EROS-C3, and five Starlink missions. Following the launch, the booster will land on SpaceX’s ASDS Of Course I Still Love You, which was tugged over 600 kilometers downrange by Scorpius. Similar to Bob and Doug, GO Beyond will provide ASDS support and recover both fairings from the pacific ocean.

This mission will mark SpaceX’s 49th launch from SLC-4E, 58th launch of 2023, 218th landing, 144th consecutive landing, 189th re-flight of a booster, and 248th Falcon 9 launch.

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-11

Ending the week, SpaceX will launch another 22 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit on the Starlink Group 6-11 mission. Launching from SLC-40 at the CCSFS once again, this launch will bring the total number of Starlink satellites launched to 5,005, of which ~4,660 should still be in orbit. Additionally, 4,566 of these are currently in their operational orbits.

Streak shot of B1069-9 launching on Starlink Group 6-9. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Liftoff is expected to occur on Sunday, Aug. 20, at 8:32 PM EDT (00:32 UTC on Aug. 21), and will mark SpaceX’s 250th Falcon 9 mission (SpaceX’s pre-flight anomaly AMOS-6 counts as a Falcon 9 mission, but not launch; hence there being one more launch than mission). Following liftoff, the currently unknown booster will also complete a two-burn profile, landing on SpaceX’s ASDS Just Read the Instructions.

The initial orbit is currently unknown but is expected to be a near 300-kilometer circular orbit inclined 43.00 degrees. The satellites will then spend the coming months raising their orbits to the Group 6 orbit — a 530-kilometer circular orbit inclined 43 degrees.

(Lead image: B1077 and B1063 at port preparing for transport to the refurbishment hangar. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)

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