Launch Roundup: Electron, Falcon 9, and Ceres-1 launches scheduled for the week

Date:
Mon, 17 Mar 2025 22:42:39 +0000

Description:
The busy launch manifests of recent weeks are set to continue, with Falcon 9, Electron, The post Launch Roundup: Electron, Falcon 9, and Ceres-1 launches scheduled for the week appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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The busy launch manifests of recent weeks are set to continue, with Falcon 9, Electron, and Chinese rocket launches expected this week. SpaceX is set to launch Falcon 9 three times, with two Starlink missions and a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office currently scheduled for the week.

Rocket Labs Electron is slated to launch from New Zealand on the heels of
last weeksThe Lightning God Reigns mission on Electron. Chinas Galactic
Energy is preparing a pair of Gushenxing-1 flights from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert.



Gushenxing-1 | Unknown Payload

An orbital launch from China is planned for Monday, March 17. While the
rocket is not confirmed, Galactic Energys Gushenxing-1 (Ceres-1) is expected to fly the mission out of Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert. Launch is set for 08:10 UTC from Site 95A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, with the rocket likely following a southwest trajectory that could send the payload to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

The four-stage Gushenxing-1, with three solid-fueled stages and a single liquid-fueled upper stage, is capable of flying up to 300 kg into a 500 km altitude SSO. The payloads identity is unknown, though Earth observation, scientific, and reconnaissance satellites often fly to SSO. Liftoff of Gushenxing-1. (Credit: CASC)

Assuming Gushenxing-1 is flying the mission, it will be the second Gushenxing-1 launch of 2025 and the first of two planned for this week. Both flights are planned from Jiuquan with similar SSO trajectories, which raises the possibility that these launches are launching a constellation of Earth observation satellites.

The Zhongke-6 and Zhongke-7 Earth observation satellites, also known as AIRSAT-06 and AIRSAT-07, are scheduled to be launched by the Gushenxing-1 vehicle sometime this year, and these satellites may be the payloads for one or both of the flights this week. Another possibility is a remote sensing payload built by Kaiwuxingkong to support the Chinese mining industry. Five Kineis satellites being prepared for shipment after being built. (Credit: Kineis)

Electron | High Five

Just over 72 hours after the launch of The Lightning God Reigns, Rocket Lab plans to fly another Electron from its private launch site on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The High Five mission, the fifth and final launch for the French company Kineis, is set to launch at 01:31 UTC on Tuesday,
March 18, from Launch Complex 1A (LC-1A) at Mahia during an instantaneous window. The 72-hour turnaround between Electron launches is enabled by two operational launch pads at the Mahia site, with Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) being used for The Lightning God Reigns last week.

For this mission, Electron will launch five satellites, each massing 28 kg,
on a southwest trajectory to a circular polar orbit at 650 km altitude inclined 97 degrees. Following separation from Electrons upper stage, the Curie kick stage will complete the necessary orbital maneuvers and deploy the satellites. We've rolled out and we're ready for launch tomorrow our second mission from LC-1 in three days

The "High Five" mission for @KineisIoT is the final in a 5-launch deal to complete their constellation though with an instantaneous launch
requirement, a weather system pic.twitter.com/wjotvWCKaD

Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) March 16, 2025



Kineis, a French company providing global communications services for the Internet of Things (IoT), has flown four missions with Rocket Lab. The previous Electron launches for Kineis deployed 20 satellites for its IoT constellation in various orbits to offer worldwide coverage. Kineis constellation will be complete with 25 satellites following High Five.

This flight is the fourth Electron launch of 2025 and the second of March, following two launches in February. Rocket Lab flew Electron 16 times in 2024 and hopes to expand on this cadence in 2025. The company is also working on bringing its medium-lift partially reusable Neutron rocket to its first
flight later this year. Deployment of 21 @Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/Em6wof0xCb

SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 13, 2025



Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-25

The first Falcon 9 launch of the week is another Starlink mission flying to the Group 12 shell. Starlink Group 12-25 is scheduled to fly on Tuesday,
March 18, at 2:09 PM EDT (18:09 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch is scheduled
for the beginning of a four-hour window extending to 6:09 PM EDT (22:09 UTC).

Falcon 9 will fly on a southeast trajectory with the currently unknown
booster scheduled to land atop one of SpaceXs autonomous droneships in the Atlantic. Like all other Group 12 launches, the mission will likely fly a mix of regular Starlink v2 Mini and the Starlink Direct to Cell satellites.

If current schedules hold, Starlink 12-25 will be the 32nd Falcon 9 launch of 2025. It will also be the only launch from the SpaceX facilities in Florida this week as Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is still unavailable following the launch of NASAs Crew-10 mission last week. A Falcon 9 sits on the pad at SLC-4E at Vandenberg. (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 | NROL-57

The first of two Falcon 9 launches planned from California this week will be flying a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload. The NROL-57 mission is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, March 19, at 11:02 PM PDT (06:02 UTC on Thursday, March 20) from Space Launch Complex-4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). The launch window for this flight lasts until 1:31 AM PDT on Thursday, March 20 (08:31 UTC).

The booster, which is not yet known, will conduct a boostback burn and a return-to-launch-site landing at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) following launch. The second stage will place the NRO payload into orbit after Falcon 9 flies a southeast trajectory from SLC-4E.

NROL-57 is thought to be flying an eighth batch of Starshield reconnaissance satellites built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. These satellites will ultimately form a constellation that can cover the globe with redundancy in case of enemy action or other issues.



Assuming an on-time launch, this mission will be the 33rd Falcon 9 launch of 2025. SpaceX is attempting to break its record of 132 Falcon launches in
2024, with a possibility of up to 170 launches this year.

Gushenxing-1 | Unknown Payload

The second Gushenxing-1 launch this week is scheduled for Friday, March 21,
at 11:10 UTC from Site 95A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The launch trajectory is similar to the flight from earlier in the week,
which would place the payload into SSO.

The payload is not yet known, but given the flight uses a trajectory that supports an SSO payload, it is likely to be an Earth observation, scientific, or reconnaissance satellite. The flight is the third Gushenxing-1 mission of the year and the second of the week if schedules hold. A stack of Starlink v2 Mini satellites before being enclosed in their fairing. (Credit: SpaceX)

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 11-7

The final launch of the week will be another Falcon 9 launch from VSFB. Starlink Group 11-7 is scheduled to launch on Saturday, March 22, at 1:45 PM PDT (20:45 UTC) from SLC-4E. Launch is scheduled for the beginning of a four-hour window that closes at 5:45 PM PDT (00:45 UTC on Sunday, March 23).

Falcon 9 will fly on a southeast trajectory out of Vandenberg, with the booster landing downrange on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific. The booster set to fly this mission is not currently known. The second stage will take a batch of Starlink v2 Mini satellites to orbit to
help fill out the Group 11 shell. All Group 11 launches have flown out of VSFB.

Starlink Group 11-7 will be the 34th Falcon 9 flight of 2025. It will also be the ninth Falcon 9 launch of March. This flight will come just three days after NROL-57, with SpaceX working to decrease its turnaround time for SLC-4E launches.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 lifts off into the Florida skies. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)



The post Launch Roundup: Electron, Falcon 9, and Ceres-1 launches scheduled for the week appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/03/launch-roundup-031725/


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