Launch Roundup: SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly set to launch amid busy
launch manifest

Date:
Mon, 10 Mar 2025 22:04:06 +0000

Description:
This week, a busy launch manifest will see SpaceX launch the Crew-10 and Starlink Group The post Launch Roundup: SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly set
to launch amid busy launch manifest appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

This week, a busy launch manifest will see SpaceX launch the Crew-10 and Starlink Group 12-21 missions from Florida and the delayed SPHEREx/PUNCH and Transporter 13 missions from California. Fireflys Alpha rocket is set to launch the new Lockheed Martin LM400 satellite bus, and Rocket Lab will fly
an Electron from New Zealand.

Outside of the United States, a Chang Zhang 8 rocket will launch from a new commercial pad in China and a Russian Angara rocket will launch an unknown payload from Plesetsk.

Now targeting no earlier than Monday, March 10 for Falcon 9's launch of
@NASA 's SPHEREx and PUNCH missions https://t.co/K7OzNqWvLN pic.twitter.com/WjPM0Z45Vm

SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 10, 2025



Falcon 9 | SPHEREx & PUNCH

SpaceX is set to launch two NASA science missions into Sun-synchronous orbit (SS), allowing for a more detailed study of the solar system and universe
than ever before. The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission will examine the broader aspects of the universe to help address many unknowns in
astrophysics, and the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will investigate solar winds ejected from the Suns corona.

Following several significant delays, Falcon 9 will launch these two missions from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB)
in California on Monday, March 10, at 8:10:12 PM PDT (03:10:12 UTC on March 11). Falcon 9 booster B1088 will launch the telescopes to a 700 km SSO. Following liftoff, the booster is expected to land at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4), completing its third mission.



One of SPHERExs main objectives is to investigate cosmic inflation a phenomenon that occurred less than a second after the Big Bang and is responsible for the universes expansion into a flat plane rather than a perfect sphere. Cosmic inflation also clarifies why pockets of highly dense material could coalesce in some regions of the universe, forming galaxies. Astrophysicists can use the data from SPHEREx to piece together the puzzle of how the universe was formed.

SPHEREx will measure the total glow from all galaxies, including those too small or distant for other telescopes to detect easily. This will help astrophysicists better understand the universes overall size and density. An additional objective for SPHEREx is to search for essential building blocks
of life within the Milky Way. The telescope is designed to detect frozen oxygen and water molecules in interstellar clouds where stars and planets form. This could help identify regions of the universe that are abundant in these molecules, which are more likely to support life as we know it. Our Sun creates a solar wind that fills the solar system!

NASA will take a PUNCH at solving how solar wind is created with four small satellites. PUNCH will launch as a rideshare with SPHEREx no earlier than
Feb. 27! pic.twitter.com/f69HFqmwVz

NASA's Launch Services Program (@NASA_LSP) February 13, 2025



The PUNCH mission is comprised of four suitcase-sized small satellites intended to study the Suns corona, the formation of solar wind, and solar winds effects on the heliosphere. There are several theories on how solar
wind is formed, mainly focusing on the expansion of plasma that was heated
and given enough energy to break free of the Suns gravity and flow along the magnetic fields of the Sun. PUNCH will help confirm this theory and investigate the origins and evolution of solar wind.

This mission will also help track coronal mass ejections, which could pose risks to Earth or in-orbit missions. The four satellites will work together
to create the most expansive field of view of the sky of any Sun-focused mission, helping broaden our knowledge of the Sun and finding ways to keep future satellites safer from coronal ejections.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-21

The first Starlink mission of this week is scheduled to launch on Monday, March 10, at 11:21 PM EDT (3:21 UTC on March 11) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. This mission will place 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into a 284 by 294-km low-Earth orbit (LEO) inclined by 43 degrees. 13 of the 21 satellites will be equipped with Direct-to-Cell capabilities.

The booster supporting this mission is B1069, which will land on SpaceXs autonomous droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be positioned 600 km downrange in the Atlantic.



B1069 will fly for the 22nd time, having first flown in December 2021, and on its second flight of 2025. The booster has flown 16 Starlink missions and
five customer missions.

Chang Zheng 8 | G60 Group TBD

A Chinese Chang Zheng 8 (CZ-8) rocket will launch on Tuesday, March 11, at 16:40 UTC from the Commercial LC-1 pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. This launch will mark the first launch from Commercial LC-1. CZ-8 will fly on a southwesterly trajectory from Wenchang.

The payload is expected to be a batch of LEO communications satellites for
the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology.
CZ-8 consists of three stages and stands 50 m tall. This will be the fifth CZ-8 mission and the second of 2025.

Falcon 9 | Transporter 13

SpaceXs Transporter 13 rideshare mission is set to liftoff on Tuesday, March 11, at 11:39 PM PDT (06:39 UTC on March 12) from SLC-4E in California. The mission is a part of SpaceXs Transporter rideshare program that facilitates the transportation of payloads from various providers to SSO. Over 40 satellites are anticipated to be deployed during this mission. These missions allow smaller satellite providers to launch satellites into space at a relatively low cost of $300,000 for up to 50 kg to SSO.

The booster for this mission is currently unknown. Following launch, the booster will return to the launch site and land at LZ-4, allowing for a more rapid refurbishment before its next mission. Falcon 9 and Dragon roll out to the launch pad at 39A in Florida for @NASA 's Crew-10 mission to the @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/9eYexdBXnu

SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 9, 2025



SpaceX Falcon 9 | Crew-10

The next crew rotation for the International Space Station (ISS) will
commence on Wednesday, March 12, at 7:48:56 PM EDT (23:48:56 UTC). NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will
fly from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Falcon 9 booster B1090 will make its second flight, having previously flown the O3b mPOWER 7&8 mission in December 2024. Following launch and separation from the second stage, the booster will land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at CCSFS.

Crew Dragon C210 Endurance will support Crew-10, flying to space for the fourth time. The capsule previously supported the Crew-3, Crew-5, and Crew-7 missions to the ISS. Endurance had been scheduled for the next Axiom crewed mission, but delays with the production of SpaceXs fifth Crew Dragon, which was expected to be ready for Crew-10, have led to the missions exchanging
Crew Dragons.



Endurance is expected to dock autonomously with the ISS on Thursday, March 13, at 10:00 UTC. Crew-9 will depart the ISS to complete the crew rotation, with Crew Dragon Freedom expected to undock on Sunday, March 16, at 13:00
UTC.

Electron | QPS-SAR-9

Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch its third mission of 2025 on Saturday,
March 15, at 00:00 UTC from Rocket Labs Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) at the Mhia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission, titled The Lightning God Reigns, will deploy iQPSs synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites into LEO. These satellites are designed to capture high-resolution images of Earth. iQPS aims to have 24 of these satellites in orbit by 2027.

This will be the first of eight Electron launches to carry iQPSs SAR satellites. This collaboration with Rocket Lab will help fill out the constellation to 36 satellites. This launch has been delayed several times, with Rocket Lab citing customer requirements for the delays, as well as vehicle checkouts.



Angara 1.2 | Unknown Payload

Russia will launch an unknown military payload into orbit atop an Angara 1.2 rocket from Site 35/1 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. Liftoff is expected within a launch window that opens on Saturday, March 15, from 10:30 to 13:00 UTC.

The Angara 1.2 measures 2.9 m in diameter and 42.7 m tall. The rocket
features two stages, with the first stage, a Universal Rocket Module 1 (URM-1), being powered by an Energomash RD-191 engine. The engine uses kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants. The second stage, a Universal Rocket Module 2 (URM-2, uses the same propellants and an RD-0124A closed-cycle engine. This will be the fifth flight of the Angara 1.2 and the first of
2025.

Firefly Alpha | LM400 Demo

A test flight for Lockheed Martins new LM400 satellite bus will be launched
by a Firefly Alpha rocket from Space Launch Complex 2W (SLC-2W) at VSFB on Saturday, March 15, at 6:25 AM PDT (13:25 UTC).

The LM400 will carry a demonstration communications payload into LEO. This will be the first flight of 2025 for Alpha and the rockets sixth flight overall. The mission has been dubbed Message In A Booster to recognize the payload and the rockets capabilities.

Alpha is a rocket consisting of two stages. The first stage features four Reaver engines powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen. The second stage utilizes a single Lightning engine that burns the same propellants and uses a tap-off cycle. Alpha is 1.82 meters in diameter and stands 29.48 meters tall.

(Lead image: A Falcon 9 launches from LC-39A. Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)



The post Launch Roundup: SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly set to launch amid busy launch manifest appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/03/launch-roundup-031025/


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