WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched 30 satellites Dec. 21 on the second in a sequence of devoted rideshare missions to mid-inclination orbits.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 6:34 a.m. Eastern on the Bandwagon-2 mission. The Falcon 9 first stage, making its 21st flight, make a touchdown again on the launch web site 8 minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff, simply because the second stage accomplished its burn.
SpaceX didn’t present particulars in regards to the deployment of the 30 payloads on the rocket, however over the subsequent few hours a number of clients reported making contact with their satellites after deployment.
The largest payload on the Bandwagon-2 mission was the third “425 Project” reconnaissance satellite tv for pc for the South Korean navy. The first such satellite tv for pc launched on a Falcon 9 final December and the second on Bandwagon-1 mission in April.
Among the opposite clients on the launch was HawkEye 360, which deployed three satellites referred to as Cluster 11 for radio-frequency intelligence. The firm mentioned the satellites characteristic improved payloads for gathering knowledge and transmitters for relaying it to floor stations.
Iceye launched two artificial aperture radar (SAR) satellites on Bandwagon-2 able to proving radar imagery at a decision of 25 centimeters. The Finnish firm has launched 40 satellites so far, together with 9 this 12 months.
Other firms with spacecraft on Bandwagon-2 embody Sidus Space, Tomorrow.io, True Anomaly and Think Orbital. Several rideshare aggregators dealt with these and different clients, with Exolaunch noting it accounted for 22 of the payloads on Bandwagon-2.
SpaceX introduced the Bandwagon line of rideshare missions in 2023 to enrich its present Transporter sequence of devoted rideshare missions to sun-synchronous orbits. SpaceX mentioned it supplied mid-inclination missions as a result of they have been probably the most generally requested orbits after solar synchronous. The firm mentioned it will carry out two Bandwagon missions in 2024 and two extra in 2025, however didn’t decide to extra missions past then.
Increasing launch objectives
The launch was the 130th for SpaceX Falcon rockets in 2024, way over the 96 launches in 2023. Several extra launches are scheduled for the rest of the 12 months.
Despite that sharp improve, the corporate will fall wanting a aim of 148 launches it set early within the 12 months. “This 12 months we needed to fly 148,” Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief working officer of SpaceX, mentioned Dec. 17 at a Center for Strategic and International Studies occasion. “I feel we’ll get to 136.”
She famous the unique aim for 2024 was 144 launches, however the firm added the 4 launches it didn’t carry out in 2023 to succeed in that 12 months’s aim of 100. Those “absurdly bold” objectives, she mentioned, are supposed to fight conservatism and threat aversion on the firm.
“It actually retains you in your toes,” she mentioned. “We needed to launch 148 instances this 12 months. We’re not going to get there, however we’re preventing for each final launch. We actually need it to be 136. Hopefully it’s. And, man, the Falcon staff is preventing for that.”
Shotwell mentioned SpaceX would once more improve its objectives for 2025, planning 175 or 180 launches. “Just preserve elevating the bar on what you’re making an attempt to do,” she mentioned. One manner SpaceX has elevated its launch price is by sooner turnarounds of droneships returning boosters, lowering the time spent in port from days to only a few hours.
“We simply preserve pushing the bounds,” she concluded. “That’s the way you keep in preventing weight.”
