We don"t have much coming up This Week in Rocket Launches. The most interesting mission will come on Thursday when SpaceX launches a Crew Dragon to get two people and two spare spacesuits to the International Space Station (ISS).
Tuesday, September 24
- Who: China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT)
- What: Smart Dragon 3
- When: 03:30 UTC
- Where: Yellow Sea, China
- Why: The CALT will launch its Jielong 3 rocket, also known as Smart Dragon 3 in English, carrying three Xingshidai satellites to orbit. These satellites have been made by ADA Space, a company that focuses on remote sensing satellites with AI processing capabilities. The satellites are Xingshidai 15, 21, and 22.
- Who: CAS Space
- What: Kinetica 1
- When: 23:30 UTC
- Where: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
- Why: CAS Space will use a Kinetica 1 rocket to launch the Jigang 1 and 2 satellites into orbit.
Thursday, September 26
- Who: SpaceX
- What: Falcon 9
- When: 18:05 UTC
- Where: Florida, US
- Why: SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 to launch its Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station carrying several astronauts. This mission is being done as part of NASA"s commercial crew program. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will be aboard the craft and it will also carry two launch-entry suits for Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams who will return on the Crew Dragon.
Recap
- The first mission last week took place on 17 September. SpaceX used a Falcon 9 to launch the Galileo L13 mission featuring two Galileo navigational satellites. They were placed in a medium Earth orbit. These satellites will join the European Space Agency"s Galileo constellation which offers services similar to GPS.
- Two days later on 19 September, China launched two of its own BeiDou-3 navigation satellites on a Long March 3B. These were also placed in a medium Earth orbit. Many smartphones, even in the US, support BeiDou for better location accuracy.
- On 20 September, a Long March 2D took off from Shanxi Province, China, carrying six Jilin-1 Kuanfu-02B satellites. These satellites deliver ultra-large-width high-resolution optical remote sensing capabilities and will be used ecological protection and economic development.
- Occurring the same day, a Kuaizhou 1A took off from Sichuan Province, China, carrying four Tianqi satellites. These satellites aim to enhance Internet of Things communications and operate in a low Earth orbit. The Tianqi constellation will eventually have 38 satellites.
- Back to the US now where SpaceX used a Falcon 9 to launch 21 Starlink satellites. This Starlink Group is numbered 9-17 and you can use this identifier to find them on tracking apps like ISS Detector. After launching, the first stage of the Falcon 9 performed a landing ready for reuse.
- Finally, back to the eastern hemisphere, Rocket Lab launched an Electron rocket carrying five Kinéis IoT satellites from Mahia, New Zealand. The mission was called "Kinéis Killed the RadIOT Star".
That"s all for this week, check back next week.