More Starlink satellites and two big launches for China

Right here’s what’s launching 8/17-8/23: SpaceX plows forward with three Starlink launches; China opens and closes the week with a reusable booster take a look at flight and a robotic moonshot.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral House Power Station carrying 56 Starlink satellites on March 24, 2023. SpaceX has launched over 12,000 Starlink satellites throughout greater than 200 missions since 2019, with three extra scheduled this week. Credit score: SpaceX, through Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

Rocket launches this week

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Chinese language aerospace agency LandSpace is concentrating on 7:35 p.m. EDT for the second flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Middle in China, in keeping with monitoring from Next Spaceflight. The launch was scrubbed final week after a Lengthy March 7A rocket exploded hours earlier than Zhuque-3’s focused launch. Zhuque-3 is LandSpace’s methane-fueled rocket, corresponding to Falcon 9 in payload and designed for first-stage restoration. Throughout Zhuque-3’s first take a look at flight in December 2025, the rocket carried out as anticipated throughout launch, however the booster was misplaced resulting from a combustion anomaly, ensuing within the first stage breaking up close to the touchdown zone throughout reentry.  

Later on Tuesday, Aug. 18, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Starlink Group 17-50 mission from California’s Vandenberg House Power Base at 10:00 p.m. EDT. The Falcon 9 booster is anticipated to land on the droneship Of Course I Nonetheless Love You. Watch it here.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, SpaceX heads to Florida for the Starlink Group 10-39 mission, lifting off from Cape Canaveral House Power Station at 11:19 a.m. EDT. The booster will goal a touchdown on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Watch it here.

On Saturday, Aug. 22, SpaceX is again at Vandenberg for the Starlink Group 15-20 mission at 3:25 a.m. EDT, with the booster set to land on Of Course I Nonetheless Love You. Watch it here.

Closing out the week on Sunday, Aug. 23, the China Aerospace Science and Know-how Company (CASC) is concentrating on 8:00 p.m. EDT for the launch of Chang’e 7 aboard a Lengthy March 5 rocket from the Wenchang House Launch Website, in keeping with monitoring from Next Spaceflight. The mission represents the subsequent part of China’s lunar exploration program, sending an orbiter, lander, rover, and hopping probe towards a touchdown on the Moon’s south pole to hunt for water ice in completely shadowed craters. Chang’e 7 will assist to put the groundwork for the Worldwide Lunar Analysis Station — China’s reply to the Artemis program and to NASA’s long-term purpose of a crewed lunar touchdown within the 2030s.

Rocket launches final week

A Lengthy March 7A carrying a Chinese language communication satellite tv for pc failed throughout first-stage flight from Wenchang House Launch Website on the South China Sea’s Hainan Island on Aug. 10 — prompting LandSpace to face down from its personal Zhuque-3 try hours later.

Japan had higher luck the identical day, launching Michibiki 7 — the ultimate satellite tv for pc finishing its regional navigation constellation — aboard an H3-22S from Tanegashima, an island in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture.

SpaceX flew 4 Falcon 9 missions throughout the week: Starlink Group 10-19 from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 11, with the booster touchdown on A Shortfall of Gravitas; Starlink Group 17-49 from Vandenberg on Aug. 12, touchdown on Of Course I Nonetheless Love You; the labeled USSF-366 national security launch from Vandenberg on Aug. 15, additionally touchdown on Of Course I Nonetheless Love You; and Globalstar’s 2-R Mission 1 from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 15, carrying new satellites for the telecommunications firm, with the booster returning to Touchdown Zone 40.

China closed the week with two extra launches on Aug. 16: a Lengthy March 12 carrying a bunch of communication satellites for the SatNet LEO web constellation from Wenchang, and a Lengthy March 2C launching an Earth commentary satellite tv for pc from Taiyuan Satellite tv for pc Launch Middle in northeastern China. 

Trying forward

On Aug. 25, SpaceX has two Starlink launches on the books: Group 10-49 from Cape Canaveral and Group 15-22 from Vandenberg. On Aug. 27, French firm Arianespace is concentrating on the launch of the MTG-I2 climate satellite tv for pc aboard an Ariane 62 rocket from the Guiana House Centre in French Guiana.

NASA is at present concentrating on no sooner than Aug. 30 for the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy House Middle. Roman has already completed final assembly and integration, and as soon as launched, will provide a subject of view greater than 100 occasions bigger than Hubble’s. Astronomers hope the next-generation area telescope will assist pin down the character of darkish vitality and open a brand new window on exoplanets. 

Brooks Mendenhall is a workers author for Astronomy and is predicated in Chattanooga, Tennessee.