We don"t really have a lot going on that much this week in terms of rocket launches. On Thursday, SpaceX will do a Starlink launch and a satellite launch for Luxembourg firm SES. There will also be the second launch of Space One"s KAIROS rocket.
Thursday, 12 December
- Who: SpaceX
- What: Falcon 9
- When: 19:33 UTC
- Where: California, US
- Why: This mission will see the launch of 23 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket. They will be placed into a low Earth orbit where they will beam internet connectivity to customers on Earth. This group of satellites has been designated as Starlink Group 11-2. You can refer to this identifier on apps like ISS Detector which tells you what satellites you can see in the sky. After the launch, the first stage of the rocket will likely perform a landing so it can be reused.
- Who: SpaceX
- What: Falcon 9
- When: 20:58 UTC
- Where: Florida, US
- Why: In this mission, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two O3b mPOWER broadband internet satellites into a medium Earth orbit. These two satellites belong not to SpaceX but to the Luxembourgish satellite telecommunications network provider SES. These satellites will enable high-speed internet in remote and underserved areas worldwide.
Saturday, 14 December
- Who: Space One
- What: KAIROS
- When: 02:00 - 02:20 UTC
- Where: Space Port Kii, Japan
- Why: Space One will launch its KAIROS rocket from the Kii private spaceport in Japan on its second mission. It will be carrying a 50 kg micro-satellite and four 3U CubeSats. This mission will be live-streamed on YouTube and could be an interesting watch if you"ve not seen the rocket blast off yet.
Recap
- The first launch since the publication of TWIRL #190 last week was China"s Long March 12. It was the first time the country had ever launched it.
- Later in the week, we got two SpaceX Starlink launches which you can see below. After the launches, the first stages of the rockets performed landings for reuse.
- The next big launch of the week was ISRO"s PSLV carrying the European Space Agency"s PROBA-3 mission which will use two satellites to snap photos of the Sun"s corona.
- The last notable launch we got was a Vega C carrying the Sentinel 1C Earth observation satellite. The satellite will be used to track things like changes in land use, deforestation, and ice cover.
That"s all for this week, check in next time.