Weekly Dose of Space (11/8-17/8)

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week had eight orbital launches occur worldwide, with Falcon 9 making up half. News this week had another commercial Crew Dragon mission announced, as well as two moves in the military space sector. 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 August 13th when module seven of the second launch tower was rolled out to the launch site. Two days later, while module seven was waiting to be stacked, the eighth module also rolled out to the launch site. The morning of the 15th of August had module seven lifted and attached to the second launch tower.

The following day, August 16th, B14.1 and the launch towers 'chopsticks' performed several tests to test catching a booster. Some of these tests had only one arm move, or both, with one occurring above B14.1, likely where SpaceX expects the booster to shut down its engines.

August 17th had B14.1 removed from the orbital launch mount and rolled back to the production site. A few hours later, a test tank was seen rolling out from the production site to the Massey's test site. The same day also mad module eight stacked onto the second launch tower.

Launches This Week

August 11th - Electron for 'A Sky Full of SARs'

Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B, on the Māhia Peninsula, carrying a synthetic aperture radar Earth-imaging satellite to low Earth orbit for Capella Space.

August 12th - Falcon 9 with Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, carrying the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission satellites, shortened to ASBM 1 & 2, for Space Norway. These satellites were built by Northrop Grumman with cooperation and payloads from the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, the United States Air Force, and Inmarsat. The booster for this mission was B1061 making its 22nd flight and landing downrange on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.

August 12th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 10-7

Another Falcon 9 launched later on the same day carrying twenty-three Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A, in Florida. The booster for this mission was B1073 flying for the 17th time and landing on the drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' downrange.

August 15th - Soyuz 2.1a with Progress MS-28

A Soyuz 2.1a lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying the Progress MS-28 spacecraft to low Earth orbit. Progress MS-28 is carrying supplies for the crew currently onboard the International Space Station, and began chasing down the station once on orbit. Docking to the station's Zvezda module occurred on August 17th at 05:53 am Universal Coordinate Time.

August 15th - Falcon 9 with WorldView Legion 3 & 4

Yet another Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida, carrying two of Maxar's WorldView Legion satellites to a low Earth orbit. These satellites are part of a group of six Earth observation spacecraft with a 30 cm resolution. The booster for this mission was B1076 on its 16th flight and landing back at Landing Zone 1.

August 16th - SSLV with EOS-08

The Indian Space Research Organisation launched an SSLV rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center carrying the EOS-08 satellite into low Earth orbit. EOS-08 is a small 175.5-kilogram Earth observation satellite. Details about the launch and satellite are available here.

August 16th - Long March 4B with Yaogan-43 Group 01

A Long March 4B lifted off from Launch Complex 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center carrying what is believed to be nine satellites to low Earth orbit. The rocket is also believed to have flown with a new 4.2-meter diameter fairing too.

August 16th - Falcon 9 for Transporter 11

Falcon 9 lifted off once again this week heading to sun-synchronus orbit for the Transporter 11 mission out of Space Launch Complex 4E. Onboard the rocket were 116 payloads for both commercial and government customers. The booster for this mission was B1075 on its 12th flight at landing at Landing Zone 4, near the launch site.

In Other Space News

Crew Dragon to fly over Earth's polar regions

SpaceX is expecting to conduct another commercial flight of Crew Dragon as soon as late this year. This mission will be a first for human spaceflight, as it will fly over Earth's north and south poles.

This mission is named Fram2, named in honor of the ship that helped explorers first reach Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic regions. Fram2 is funded by Chun Wang, who will be flying on Crew Dragon with three other crew members. Those additional crew members are Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway, Eric Philips from Australia, and Rabea Rogge from Germany.

The mission is expected to be in orbit for three to five days while flying at altitudes between 425 and 450 kilometers. Crew Dragon will also be equipped with a cupola instead of a docking port to allow for clear views of Earth below.

Terran Orbital to be acquired by Lockheed Martin

On August 15th, Lockheed Martin announced that it would acquire Terran Orbital for 0.25 United States Dollars per share for a total cost of 450 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.

Lockheed Martin expects to combine Terran Orbital's high throughput, robotic manufacturing capacity, and high-performing modular space vehicle designs with their record of performance and innovation to offer a broader range of capabilities and value to customers.

Robert Lightfoot, President of Lockheed Martin Space, said the following about the acquisition:

"We've worked with Terran Orbital for more than seven years on a variety of successful missions," – "Their capabilities, talent and business momentum align with Lockheed Martin Space's strategic plans – and we're looking forward to welcoming them to our team. Our customers require advanced technology and even faster product development, and that's what we can achieve together."

Sierra Nevada to expand RF monitoring satellite fleet

Sierra Nevada Corporation is expecting to expand its fleet of radio frequency monitoring satellites according to Chris Morgan, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Vice President, while speaking to SpaceNews.

The company currently has four CubeSats as part of its radio frequency monitoring satellite fleet, but is looking to add an additional twenty. These satellites are expected to be deployed over five years as well as switching to an ESPA-class satellite size. ESPA, or EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Secondary Payload Adapter, satellites can be included as a rideshare payload for most missions without causing impact to the primary payloads mission.

This increase is reportedly driven by an increase in demand for radio frequency data by the U.S. and allied militaries, who seek greater intelligence about GPS jamming and enemy movements. Some demand is also reportedly from commercial applications.

What to Expect Next Week

Starbase

SpaceX is still awaiting regulatory approvals for the fifth flight, due changes in its flight plan for the fifth test flight. The change are a potential landing of Booster 12 back at the launch site, on the launch towers 'chopsticks'. Both vehicles for flight five, Booster 12 and Ship 30, are ready for flight pending a possible wet dress rehearsal.

August 20th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 10-5

Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 carrying another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.

August 21st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 9-5

Another Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Space Launch Complex 4E, carrying yet more Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.

August 22nd - Long March 7A with a to-be-announced payload

A Long March 7A is believed to be targeting a launch on August 22nd from the Wenchang Space Launch Site, the payload aboard the rocket is still yet to be revealed.