SpaceX to launch Galileo satellites, enhancing navigation for smartphones - TWIRL #181

We have lots coming up This Week in Rocket Launches, the most interesting missions will be performed by SpaceX and China. One of the SpaceX missions this week will see the launch of two Galileo satellites which will improve navigation services for the devices that connect to these sats. The interesting Chinese mission will see the launch of some BeiDou navigation satellites. Many smartphones support the BeiDou and Galileo constellations so many readers will benefit directly from these launches and get better location information on their phones.

Sunday, 15 September

• Who: SpaceX
• What: Falcon 9
• When: 22:59 UTC
• Where: Florida, US
• Why: SpaceX will use this mission to launch two Galileo satellites, designated FM26 & FM32, for Europe. The Galileo satellites will join the Galileo constellation which provides similar services to America's GPS constellation. These sats were supposed to launch on an Ariane rocket but got transferred to a Russian Soyuz and then ultimately transferred again to SpaceX. The first stage of the Falcon 9 will probably attempt to land for reuse.

Monday, 16 September

• Who: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
• What: H-IIA 202
• When: 05:24 - 05:25 UTC
• Where: Tanegashima, Japan
• Why: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will launch an H-IIA rocket carrying the IGS-Radar 8 recon satellite for the Japanese Ministry of Defense. The satellite will be operated by the Cabinet Satellite Information Center and serve the country's national defense and perform civil natural disaster monitoring.

• Who: Rocket Lab
• What: Electron
• When: 23:02 UTC
• Where: Mahia, New Zealand
• Why: Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket carrying Kinéis satellites. Kinéis 6 - 10 will be part of a constellation of 25 satellites that will provide Internet of Things communications.

Tuesday, 17 September

• Who: Roscosmos
• What: Angara 1.2
• When: 07:00 - 09:00 UTC
• Where: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
• Why: The payload of this mission is unknown but it's speculated to be a Kosmos military satellite.

Wednesday, 18 September

• Who: SpaceX
• What: Falcon 9
• When: 14:20 UTC
• Where: California, US
• Why: SpaceX will use its Falcon 9 to launch 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. This group is known as Starlink Group 9-17; you can use this identifier to find these satellites in orbit on apps like ISS Detector once they have launched. The group will include 13 direct-to-cell Starlink sats and the first stage of the rocket should perform a landing.

Thursday, 19 September

• Who: CNSA
• What: Long March 3B/E
• When: 01:00 UTC
• Where: China
• Why: This Long March rocket will launch two BeiDou navigation satellites for the Chinese government. Most modern phones come with support for BeiDou satellites and they help pinpoint you on apps like Google Maps. These satellites will be placed in a medium Earth orbit.

Friday, 20 September

• Who: CNSA
• What: Long March 2D
• When: 04:10 UTC
• Where: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China
• Why: This Long March will be carrying an unknown payload.

Recap

• The first mission we got this week was SpaceX's Polaris Dawn, a crewed mission where the astronauts spend time in orbit around the Earth before coming back home. The mission launched successfully and the first stage of the rocket performed a successful landing for reuse.

• Next, LandSpace launched the ZhuQue-3 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It successfully performed a landing after going up 10 km. Developing rockets that can take off and land is beneficial for private companies as they can reduce costs by reusing rockets.

• The third mission saw Russia launch a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS). It carried two cosmonauts, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, and one NASA astronaut, Don Pettit.

• Next, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the BlueBird 1 - 5 satellites for AST SpaceMobile. The first stage of the Falcon 9 successfully landed so it can be reused.

• The final launch of the week was another Falcon 9, this time carrying Starlink satellites. This group is called Starlink Group 9-6 and the first stage of the Falcon 9 landed successfully.

That's all for this week, check in next time!