Launch Roundup: Vulcan and Ariane to launch ahead of Starlink missions

on

After a week of weather delays across the U.S, launch cadence increases as providers strive to catch up with the backlog.

A navigational technology satellite and a classified payload are expected to launch atop Vulcan, followed by an Ariane 6 carrying a weather satellite, and a Chinese Chang Zheng 5B rocket; all these launches are scheduled for around Wednesday of this week.

Four Falcon 9 Starlink missions are also scheduled for launch during the week.

Vulcan VC4S | USSF-106 (NTS-3 & Others)

Vulcan’s first launch of 2025 is now scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 7:59 PM EDT (23:59 UTC). The United States Space Force 106 (USSF-106) and NTS-3 payloads will be delivered into geosynchronous orbit from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at the CCSFS in Florida.

NTS-3 is a technology demonstration navigation satellite with an experimental signal generator that is designed to be reprogrammed on-orbit to improve performance, overcome interference, and defend from countermeasure attacks. A classified payload for the USSF will also be launched on this mission.

Vulcan is ULA’s expendable heavy-lift rocket with twin BE-4 main engines and, in this mission’s VC4S configuration, four side-mounted GEM 63XL solid rocket boosters. Standing at 61.6 m in height and 5.4 m in diameter, the two-stage rocket can lift 11,693 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The Vulcan rocket will deploy the USSF-106 mission directly to geosynchronous (GEO) orbit using the high-performance Centaur V upper stage.

This will be Vulcan’s first mission of 2025, and its third mission in total. This will also be ULA’s third mission of 2025.

Ariane 62 | MetOp-SG-A1

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) second Ariane 62 launch of 2025 is scheduled to liftoff from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 6 (ELA-4) at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 00:37 UTC.

The payload for this mission will be the MetOp-SG-A1 satellite, operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European operational satellite agency responsible for monitoring weather, climate, and the environment from space.

The 4,040 kg mass satellite is part of the EUMETSAT Polar System – Second Generation (EPS-SG) programme. MetOp-SG-A1 will observe weather and climate from a polar orbit, providing high-resolution observations of temperature, precipitation, clouds, winds, sea ice, aerosols, pollution, soil moisture, volcanic dust, and a multitude of other parameters.

The MetOp-SG-A1 satellite is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The partner for this satellite, MetOp-SG-1B, will launch next year and will carry a complementary set of instruments.

In addition to its core instruments scanning the Earth from low Earth orbit (LEO), the MetOp-SG-A1 satellite will also carry the Sentinel-5 payload, an instrument part of Copernicus – the EU Earth observation programme. The Sentinel-5 mission is a high-resolution spectrometer system operating in the ultraviolet to shortwave infrared range. This system enables the monitoring of nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and other trace gases, – data supporting global air quality and pollution monitoring and climate applications.

The Ariane 6 flying this mission is of the ‘62’ variant, meaning two strap-on solid rocket boosters will be attached to the 5.4 m diameter core stage. (The ‘64’ variant will fly with four such boosters). Ariane 6 utilizes liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which are burned through the first stage Vulcain 2.1 engine and the second stage Vinci engine. The 62 m tall rocket flew for the first time on July 9, 2024.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-4

A SpaceX Falcon 9 is now scheduled to launch on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 8:44 PM PDT (Wednesday, 03:44 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. The fourth batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink constellation’s polar shell will fly due south to be delivered into Sun-synchronous orbit.

After the launch and stage separation, booster B1093 will land on SpaceX’s west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean.

B1093, which will be making its fifth flight, was first flown on April 7, 2025, on the Starlink Group 11-11 mission. The booster has also supported the Starlink Group 15-5, Starlink Group 15-9, and Starlink Group 15-2 missions.

Falcon 9 is a 3.9 m diameter, 70 m tall two-stage rocket. The first stage booster is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines, while the second stage utilizes a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first and only reusable orbital rockets in service today, with one Falcon booster having flown 29 flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.

Chang Zheng 5B/YV-2 | SatNet LEO Group TBD

A Chinese Chang Zheng, or Long March, 5B (CZ-5B) rocket is expected to launch from Launch Complex 101 at Wenchang Space Launch Site in China on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at 06:45 UTC.

The rocket is expected to fly south to deliver a batch of communications satellites into LEO. The precise details about the payload remain uncertain, but it is believed to be part of a constellation of 13,000 satellites that SatNet is constructing.

The CZ-5B is a 53.66 m high rocket with two stages. The first stage utilizes four strap-on solid rocket motors. The CZ-5 is primarily used for heavy-lift payloads and was extensively launched during the construction of the Tiangong Space Station.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-20

A Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida on Thursday, Aug. 14, at 6:47 AM EDT (10:47 UTC). Starlink Group 10-20 will launch atop booster B1085 and will fly northwest, carrying a payload of 28 satellites for insertion into LEO.

Booster B1085 will be making its tenth flight, having previously supported the Starlink Group 10-5, Crew-9, Starlink Group 6-77, GPS III-7, Blue Ghost Mission 1 & HAKUTO-R M2, Fram2, Starlink Group 6-93, SXM-10, and MTG-S1/Sentinel-4A missions. The booster’s first flight was on Aug. 20, 2024.

After launch, the booster will land on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions, which will be stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The droneship will be returned to Port Canaveral, where the booster will be offloaded to be prepared for its next flight.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 17-5

Another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 15 is Starlink Group 17-5. A Falcon 9 will launch from SLC-4E at VSFB in California. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:44 AM PDT (15:44 UTC).

The booster supporting this mission is expected to be B1088, making its ninth flight. The payload will be 24 Starlink v2.0 Mini satellites, launching on a southwestern trajectory to a 97-degree inclination orbit.

The booster will land on the west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You.

Booster B1088’s previous missions were NROL-126, Transporter 12, SPHEREx & PUNCH, NROL-57, Starlink Group 11-13, Starlink Group 15-4, Starlink Group 15-8, and Starlink Group 15-7. Its first flight was on Nov. 30, 2024.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-11

The next of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to launch this week is scheduled to liftoff from SLC-40 at CCSFS on Saturday, Aug. 16, at 7:35 AM EDT (11:35 UTC). The payload of 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites will be inserted into a 53.16-degree inclination orbit

The Falcon 9 first stage supporting this mission will be booster B1095, flying for the second time. After launch and stage separation, the booster will land on the autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Booster B1095 first flew on May 21, supporting the Starlink Group 2-15 mission.

(Lead image: ULA’s Vulcan launches on its second flight.  Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)

The post Launch Roundup: Vulcan and Ariane to launch ahead of Starlink missions appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.



Comments

Post a Comment