Launch Roundup: Business As Usual resumes, SpaceX launches more Starlinks

Date:
Sun, 19 Jan 2025 17:39:17 +0000

Description:
Covering the period Monday, Jan. 20, through Monday, Jan. 27, 2024. With the dust settling The post Launch Roundup: Business As Usual resumes, SpaceX launches more Starlinks appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Covering the period Monday, Jan. 20, through Monday, Jan. 27, 2024.

With the dust settling following the launches of Blue Origins New Glenn and SpaceXs Starship last week, and with two consequential mishap investigations underway, business returns to usual this week. Four SpaceX Starlink missions at least one from each of the three Falcon launch pads are on the roster so far.

The last week has been unusual in that there has not been a Starlink launch for over seven days, with the 11-8 mission being firstly scrubbed, and then delayed several times in the period.

SpaceX continues its drive to launch approximately 7,500 Generation 2 (V2 Mini) Starlink satellites into orbit. At the start of this week, 2,963 have been launched, and of those, 97 have deorbited, leaving 2,866 in orbit.

A new, lighter version of the V2 Mini satellites has now been produced. This version masses at approximately 575 kg (1,267 pounds) at launch, nearly 22% less than the original V2 Mini design, allowing Falcon 9 to launch more network capacity to orbit per launch. While a recent report suggested as many as 29 may be carried, the only change noted so far has been with Starlink Group 11-8, which is now due to launch with 27 on board on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

India has one launch planned this week a navigation satellite to GEO.



SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 13-1

This weeks first launch will mark the start of a new group for Starlink
Group 13. Falcon 9 will launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the
Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

SpaceX is now targeting 12:59 AM EST (05:59 UTC) during a four-hour launch window that opens on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 12:13 AM EST (05:13 UTC). The expected payload of 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, including 13 with Direct-to-Cell capabilities, will launch to a 43-degree inclination orbit on
a southeasterly trajectory, into an initial orbit of approximately 272 km by 283 km.

The booster supporting this mission is not yet known, but the droneship A Shortfall Of Gravitas will be on station in the Atlantic Ocean for the recovery operations when the booster attempts a landing.

Falcon 9 is a 3.9-meter diameter, 70-meter-high high two-stage rocket. The first stage booster is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines, while the second 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 twenty-five flights. The two payload fairings are also recovered and reused after flight.

If the current timetable holds, then this will be the 10th SpaceX mission of 2025 and the 444th SpaceX mission ever.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-8

Falcon 9 was set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites for the Starlink Group 11-8 mission on Sunday, Jan. 18, at 9:35:50 AM PST (17:35:50 UTC) from SLC-4E at VSFB, the second launch from this pad this week. The launch window was open until 11:14 AM PST (19:14 UTC). A hold was called with 11 seconds remaining in the countdown, with a controller heard to suggest on the SpaceX webcast that a wayward aircraft was the reason. A hold in the Falcon 9 countdown, once fuelling has started, causes a scrub for the day to allow the cryogenic oxygen to be recycled and rechilled to the deep conditioning required for this vehicle. A new launch time of Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7:24 AM PST (15:24 UTC) has now been confirmed by SpaceX, having been revised several times in the interim.



Falcon 9 will fly a southeasterly trajectory to insert the batch of 27
v2-Mini satellites into a 53 degree inclination orbit, 274 km by 285 km. The payload of 27 satellites will set a new record. The increase in the number of satellites being carried is believed to be as a result of mass reduction in the design.

The booster, B1082, will land atop SpaceXs west coast autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed downrange in the Pacific.

Booster B1082 will be flying for the tenth time, having previously flown USSF-62, OneWeb #20, and seven Starlink missions. Its first flight was on
Jan. 3, 2024, and all of its missions to date have been flown from Vandenberg SFB.

SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-6

SpaceXs next launch will be from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The four-hour launch window opens on Friday, Jan. 24, at 5:54 AM PST (13:54 UTC).

West coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You will support the landing and recovery of the currently unknown booster.

SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-12

Completing the cycle of Starlink launches, this mission will launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Jan. 24. Currently targeting the opening of the four-hour launch window, Falcon 9 will launch at 5:45 PM EST (22:45 UTC).

The booster and recovery assets supporting this mission are not yet known.

GSLV Mk 11 | NVS-02 (RNSS-1K) GSLV Mk 11 ith NVS-2 ready for launch.
(Credit: ISRO)

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch a Navigation Satellite atop a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark 11. The mission will launch from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India and is currently targeting Sunday, Jan 26, at 22:45 UTC. The launch window extends through four hours. The flight trajectory will be due East, as is usual for geosynchronous orbits.

NVS-02, as the name suggests, will be the second in the series of 2nd-generation navigation satellites and the ninth satellite in the
Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). The satellite will form part of a regional constellation for the Indian sub-continent, compatible with both GPS and Galileo systems. There are two specific payloads aboard the
satellite, one provides ranging, and the other, navigation. As is necessary for such satellites, NVS-02 carries an extremely accurate atomic clock that counts the oscillations of rubidium-87 atoms to measure each second.

GSLV Mark 11 shares components with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV). The first stage is a solid rocket motor, while the second uses a liquid-fueled Vikas engine. Stage three is an Indian Cryogenic Upperstage, using a CE-7.5 engine powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Four liquid-fuelled L40H strap-on boosters are used to assist the first stage.

The vehicle stands at 51.7 m high, with a fairing of 7.8 m height and 4 m diameter. This will be the 17th mission for the GSLV and the 1st mission of 2025 for ISRO.

(Lead Image: A recent Falcon 9 Launch from LC-39A. Credit: SpaceX)

The post Launch Roundup: Business As Usual resumes, SpaceX launches more Starlinks appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/01/launch-roundup-business-as-usual-resum es-spacex-launches-more-starlinks/


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