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Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week had five launches occur, with the majority utilizing Falcon 9. News this week had India planning a record-breaking launch cadence for the coming year and OneWeb's services temporarily going down. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide launch schedule might look like next week.
SpaceX
This week at Starbase began on December 29th when Booster 15 was rolled back to the production site from the Massey's test site, having complete cryogenic testing. On the following day, Booster 14 was rolled from the production site to the launch site, and then lifted onto the Orbital Launch Mount on December 31st, ahead of Starship-Super Heavy's seventh flight test.
Two days into the new year, on January 2nd, Booster 14 performed a movement test of its four grid fins to ensure that the system is working ahead of flight. Late on the 2nd teams were spotted installing flight termination explosives on Booster 14, to quickly destroy the vehicle if there is a risk to public safety. January 3rd also had the booster stabilizer pins removed from the Orbtial Launch Mount, to allow the vehicle to liftoff during the flight test.
Launches This Week
December 29th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 11-3
Another Falcon 9 blasted off from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, carrying twenty-two Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Supporting this launch was B1075, flying for the sixteenth time and landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' downrange.
December 29th - Falcon 9 with four Astranis MicroGEO satellites
SpaceX launched four of Astranis' MicroGEO satellites to geostationary transfer orbit atop of a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida. Booster B1083 supported this launch for its seventh flight and landed downrange on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas'.
December 30th - PSLV with SpaDeX
A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched India's SpaDeX, Space Docking Experiment, mission to low Earth orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. This mission will demonstrate autonomous docking between two satellites, a capability India is yet to perform ahead of its future lunar and human spaceflight missions.
December 31st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-6
Ending last year's launches was a Falcon 9 carrying twenty-one Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 39A, in Florida. Booster B1078 supported this final mission of 2024 for its sixteenth flight, with a landing downrange on the drone ship 'Just Read The Instructions'.
January 4th - Falcon 9 with Thuraya 4-NGS
Beginning 2025's launches was a Falcon 9 flying from Space Launch Complex 40 with the Thuraya 4-NGS communications, on behalf of UAE-based Al Yah Satellite Communications, to a geostationary transfer orbit. Supporting this year's first mission was B1073 for its twentieth flight, with a landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas' downrange.
In Other Space News
India plans ten launches in 2025
India is planning to at least double its launch cadence in 2025 with ten launches planned to occur, according to Indian Space Research Organization Chairman S. Somanath following the launch of SpaDex in late December. If all missions remain on schedule India will launch thirteen missions, over doubling last years five.
The launch schedule for the coming year includes three Gaganyaan test flights atop of LVM3, a fourth LVM3 for AST SpaceMobile, four GSLV missions to launch navigation, remote sensing, and imaging satellites, three PSLV missions for commercial and defense satellites, one SSLV mission, and the debut flight of Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 rocket. An increased cadence will also challenge India's aerospace contractors with S. Somanath saying:
“Our ability to build a GSLV and launch is going to be challenging,” – “So we are looking at how we can ramp up by a little more investment, and also look at how the commercial models can be generated”
This year the Satish Dhawan Space Center will also see its one hundredth launch mission take place, with ninety-eight having taken place so far since August 1979.
OneWeb goes down over New Years
From December 31st 2024 to January 2nd 2025 Eutelsat's OneWeb constellation experienced a temporary outage. This outage disabled the 654 satellites constellation from providing services to customers.
This software issue was due to OneWeb's systems timings failing to take into account the fact that 2024 was a leap year. The company's statement on the outage was as follows:
"The root cause was identified as a software issue within the ground segment. Eutelsat was fully mobilized and worked with the vendor to restore full service, while maintaining a constant dialogue with affected customers. The constellation is operating nominally once again."
Eutelsat also operates thirty-five communications satellites in geostationary orbit which were unaffected, but not used as a backup for OneWeb services during the outage.
What to Expect Next Week
Starbase
SpaceX is currently preparing to perform Starship-Super Heavy's seventh flight test utilizing Booster 14 and Ship 33, the first 'Block 2' Starship upper-stage. This launch may take place no earlier than January 10th, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has also recently granted a launch license for the mission. Both vehicles needed for flight have also completed pre-launch static fires and individual tests.
January 6th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 6-71
Falcon 9 is preparing to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 to low Earth orbit with a batch of Starlink satellites.
January 6th - Long March 3B/E with a to-be-announced payload
A Long March 3B/E is expected to fly from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center to a geostationary transfer orbit.
January 7th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-11
Another Falcon 9 is preparing to launch from Launch Complex 39A with a batch of Starlink satellites bound for low Earth orbit.
January 8th - New Glenn for its debut flight
Blue Origin is expected to launch its first New Glenn rocket from Space Launch Complex 36, in Florida. New Glenn's first stage, called 'So You're Telling Me There's a Chance', will attempt to land downrange on the drone ship 'Jacklyn'.
January 10th - Falcon 9 with NROL-153
SpaceX is expecting to launch a Falcon 9 for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Space Launch Complex 4E with a batch of Starshield satellites, the military variant of Starlink.
January 10th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-12
Yet another Falcon 9 is expected to launch to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 with a batch of Starlink satellites.
January 10th - Starship-Super Heavy for its seventh flight test
SpaceX plans to perform its seventh flight test for its Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle with liftoff and possible booster catch from the company's launch site in south Texas. The vehicles for this flight will be Ship 33, the first 'Block 2' Starship upper-stage, and Super Heavy Booster 14.
