SpaceX to help get the North Pole and high latitude areas online - TWIRL #176

Falcon 9 getting ready for ASBM mission

We have a diverse set of missions This Week in Rocket Launches including launches from Rocket Lab, SpaceX, Roscosmos, and ISRO. One of the most interesting missions this week will be SpaceX's mission to launch two satellites for Space Norway as part of the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). These satellites will provide constant broadband connectivity over the North Pole and high latitude areas which are underserved by satellite broadband services.

Sunday, 11 August

Who: Rocket Lab
What: Electron rocket
When: 11:15 UTC
Where: Mahia, New Zealand
Why: Rocket Lab will use an Electron rocket to launch the third satellite of Capella Space's Acadia series called Acadia 3. The mission will be called "A Sky Full of SARs" after the nature of the satellite, that is, a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sat. The constellation will eventually contain 30 satellites and will be used for imaging the Earth.

Monday, 12 August

Who: SpaceX
What: Falcon 9
When: 02:00 - 02:50 UTC
Where: California, US
Why: SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 to launch two satellites for Space Norway as part of the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). The satellites will be put into a special orbit that will cause them to linger over the Arctic so they can provide services for longer periods of time. These ASBM satellites will provide constant broadband coverage over the North Pole and high-latitude areas.

Thursday, 15 August

Who: CNSA
What: Long March 3B/E
When: 01:30 UTC
Where: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China
Why: The rocket will be carrying an unknown payload into orbit

Who: Roscosmos
What: Soyuz 2.1a
When: 03:20 UTC
Where: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Why: Rocosmos, Russia's space agency, will launch a Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying the 89th Progress cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station to ensure those aboard have everything they need.

Who: ISRO
What: SSLV
When: 03:47 UTC
Where: Dhawan Space Centre, India
Why: ISRO, India's space agency, will launch the SSLV rocket on its third developmental flight; the mission is called SSLV-03. The mission will place the EOS 8 Earth observation satellite into orbit. Secondary payloads into the CubeSats Space Rickshaw and IITMSat. BlackSky was going to include its satellites but pulled out and XPoSat moved its satellites to another launch.

Recap

The first mission we got last week was a Starlink mission. SpaceX used a Falcon 9 to launch 23 Startlink satellites (Starlink-184 / Starlink Group 11-1) into orbit from California, US. The first stage of the rocket performed a landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

The second mission of the week was another Falcon 9 launch but this time carried the Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS carrying 3,720 kilos of supplies to ensure astronauts have everything they need. The first stage of the Falcon 9 performed a landing for reuse.

The final launch that we saw was a Chinese Long March 6A carrying the first group of 18 SpaceSail Polar Orbit satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China. These satellites will provide broadband internet services globally.