Space Traffic Report: Busy Week for Falcon 9: TRACERS, Starlink & O3b Satellites!

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This week’s launches predominantly featured SpaceX’s Falcon 9, beginning with a Starlink mission from Vandenberg, followed by the O3b mPOWER satellites for SES from Florida, and concluding with NASA’s TRACERS and accompanying payloads from Vandenberg. The Soyuz 2.1b rounded out the week, completing the Ionosfera-M constellation.

 

Falcon 9 Launch of Starlink Group 17-3

The week kicked off with SpaceX launching its Starlink Group 17-3 mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff occurred on July 19th at 03:53 UTC from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The rocket deployed 24 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit, marking the second operational launch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites into polar orbit, enhancing internet coverage for users in higher latitudes. The mission’s booster, B1082, successfully completed its fourteenth flight, landing on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You.”

Falcon 9 Launch of O3b mPOWER D

On July 22nd at 21:12 UTC, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. This mission carried two O3b mPOWER satellites into Medium-Earth Orbit. Built by Boeing and operated by SES, these satellites are part of the second generation of SES’s O3b constellation.

Originally intended to include three satellites, technical issues with earlier satellites caused adjustments to the mission plan. Booster B1090, on its sixth flight, successfully returned to Earth, landing on SpaceX’s droneship “Just Read The Instructions.”

Falcon 9 Launch of TRACERS and Rideshare Missions

Closing out the Falcon 9 launches for the week, SpaceX launched NASA’s TRACERS mission alongside eight other payloads into Sun-Synchronous Orbit on July 23rd at 18:13 UTC from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The TRACERS mission, comprising two satellites, studies magnetic reconnection—a process where Earth’s magnetic field lines disconnect and reconnect, potentially causing auroras and affecting ground-based electrical systems. This mission is led by David Miles from the University of Iowa, historically linked to physicist James Van Allen of the Van Allen radiation belts.

Rideshare payloads included NASA’s REAL instrument studying particle loss from the Van Allen belts and Bard, built by York Space Systems, featuring the Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT) for satellite communication interoperability. Other payloads included NovaWurks’s Athena, Tyvak’s LIDE spacecraft, and four Skykraft-4 constellation satellites.

Initially delayed due to an FAA air traffic control disruption from a power outage, the launch succeeded the next day, marking the sixteenth flight for booster B1081, which landed at Landing Zone 4.

Soyuz 2.1b Launch of Ionosfera-M Satellites

Wrapping up the week, a Soyuz 2.1b rocket launched on July 25th at 05:54 UTC from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. This mission carried two Ionosfera-M satellites, completing Russia’s four-satellite constellation designed to measure Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere. Accompanying the primary payload were 18 cubesat rideshares, including an experimental Iranian communications satellite.

Looking Ahead: Upcoming Missions

Next week promises continued excitement with up to four Starlink launches. The European Vega C rocket will also carry CNES’s Constellation Optique en 3D (CO3D) satellites for high-detail Earth mapping and the MicroCarb satellite for global carbon dioxide monitoring.

India’s GSLV Mark II is set to launch the collaborative NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, aimed at detailed Earth observations. Meanwhile, Australia’s Gilmour Space plans its maiden flight of the Eris rocket after previous delays.

Additionally, SpaceX will conduct the Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station, scheduled no earlier than July 31st. This will mark the sixth flight of Crew Dragon Endeavour, setting a new record for Dragon capsule reuse. The crew includes NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

China may launch its returning Hyperbola 1 rocket, additional Guowang internet satellites, and the United States could see a HASTE mission from Wallops, Virginia, carrying a secretive hypersonic payload.

As always, launch dates are subject to change. Stay updated by visiting nextspaceflight.com or downloading the mobile app.

Report by Elysia Segal for NSF’s BREAKINGSpace. Written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera. Lead image: Roscosmos.

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