SpaceX is scheduled to launch up to three times this week, with each mission planned to deploy internet communications satellites into low-Earth orbit: two for the company’s own Starlink megaconstellation and one for its competitor, Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
China kicked off the week’s launch manifest, for those in UTC, with the launch of its 100th Chang Zheng 2D rocket in the very early hours of Monday morning, when it lofted two satellites for its Shiyan (or “practice”) technical demonstration series. This was the second vehicle to reach this milestone, following the Chang Zheng 3B/E, which achieved the same mark last December.
The second HASTE hypersonic research flight, using a modified version of Rocket Lab’s Electron, is now scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7:45 PM EDT (23:45 UTC) from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Rocket Lab had originally planned to launch the mission the day before.
This flight will employ an eastward suborbital trajectory, with the payload presumably concluding its flight over the Atlantic. Little is known about the payloads used by HASTE flights, but the U.S. Armed Forces is intensively researching and developing hypersonic aircraft and missiles for future combat situations.
This flight replaces the previously scheduled JAKE 4 mission, which was expected to fly on July 11 but was delayed multiple times over the following two months. The JUSTIN flight will be the 14th Electron launch of 2025, as Rocket Lab not only works to increase Electron’s launch cadence but also attempts to finish preparations for the first flight of its upcoming partially reusable medium-lift Neutron rocket.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-39
The first Starlink mission of the week is also the only launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Starlink Group 11-39 is due to launch on Friday, Oct. 3, at 6:00 AM PDT (13:00 UTC), at the beginning of its four-hour launch window.
Starlink satellites are deployed during the Starlink Group 10-27 mission on Sept. 21, 2025. (Credit: SpaceX)
Onboard will be 28 more Starlink v2 Mini satellites, bound for an orbit at an altitude of 595 km, inclined at 53 degrees. Despite the mission name, this will be the fifteenth mission for this shell of the constellation.
Booster B1097 will make its second flight, having debuted only weeks ago at the start of September, launching a mission for Starlink’s Group 17 shell. It is expected to once again land on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You, stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean.
At the start of the week, SpaceX had launched 9,868 Starlink satellites, of which 1,321 have deorbited and 7,547 have moved into their operational orbits. At this pace, the company is expected to launch its 10,000th Starlink satellite by the end of October.
Falcon 9 | Project Kuiper KF-03
SpaceX will launch its third and final batch of satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is currently set to liftoff on Friday, Oct. 3, at 11:43 PM EDT (06:30 UTC on October 4), in the middle of a short 27-minute launch window.
SpaceX is one of many launch providers scheduled to loft batches of satellites for Amazon’s internet megaconstellation, which is planned to grow to 3,236 satellites across 98 orbital planes in three layers. The company has launched each batch roughly one month apart, all from the same pad, and all headed into the highest of the three layers at an altitude of 630 km.
Kuiper satellites are manufactured in the production facility (Credit: Project Kuiper)
The booster and droneship supporting this mission have yet to be confirmed. The last two Falcon 9 missions for the constellation debuted a new booster — B1096 and B1091, respectively. Both boosters landed successfully on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
Kuiper’s rival, Starlink, is already installed on several popular airlines, including United Airlines, Air France, and Qatar Airways. U.S. airline JetBlue announced in early September that it will become the first partner with Project Kuiper, which aims to deliver in-flight internet, or ‘Fly-Fi’, starting in 2027.
A fourth batch for the constellation is due to fly aboard another Atlas V 551, before three other vehicles will carry their own batches of Kuiper satellites for the first time. Vulcan Centaur is scheduled to launch the first of 38 batches before the end of this year, while Ariane 6 will loft the first of 18 missions, and New Glenn the first of 12 next year.
Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-59
The second of two planned Starlink missions this week is expected to liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, Oct. 4. This was initially expected to be the first Starlink mission of the week but has been shuffled to prioritize the KF-03 mission for SpaceX’s customer, Amazon. The mission is currently scheduled to launch from the pad at the start of a typical four-hour window, which opens at 1:17 AM EDT (05:17 UTC), carrying 28 Starlink v2 Mini satellites.
Booster B1090 is supporting this mission on its eighth flight after previously launching two Starlink missions. Making its debut last December on the 03b mPower 7 & 8 mission, this first stage has also launched the Crew-10 and CRS-33 missions toward the International Space Station, in addition to launching the Bandwagon-3 rideshare and 03b mPower 9 & 10 missions.
Following its ascent and stage separation, the booster is expected to land on the deck of the autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Lead image: Falcon 9 leaves a trail against the Florida night sky. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)
The post Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 launches Starlink and Kuiper satellites appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Comments
Post a Comment