SpaceSail Polar Group TBD
Long March 8
Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with funding backed by the Shanghai local government. Initial constellation will consist of 1296 satellites by 2027 with long term plans to expand it to 12000 satellites.
Window: 14:34–14:57 UTC
Updated possible payload identity (uncertain).
Upcoming
6
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)
Vega-C
Joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield – the magnetosphere – and the supersonic solar wind.
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Flight 12
Starship
12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3. The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate each of these new pieces in the flight environment for the first time, with each element of the Starship architecture featuring significant redesigns to enable full and rapid reuse that incorporate learnings from years of development and test. The Starship upper stage will target multiple in-space and reentry objectives, including a payload deployment of 20 Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, and two specially modified Starlink satellites. The two modified satellites will test hardware planned for Starlink V3 and will attempt to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned. For Starship entry, a single heat shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure the aerodynamic load differences on adjacent tiles when there is a tile missing. Finally, the ship will perform experimental actions tested on previous flight tests, including a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly.
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Starlink Group 17-42
Falcon 9
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
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Demo Flight
South Korean ADD Solid-Fuel SLV
Note: Launch vehicle name is provisional. First orbital full version launch of the South Korean military small satellite launch vehicle, after 2 sub-orbital tests of individual stages on 30 March and 30 December 2022, and 1 orbital test flight without the 2nd stage on 4 December 2023. Details TBD.
Starlink Group 10-31
Falcon 9
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
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Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)
Electron
Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.
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