Weekly Dose of Space (8/12-14/12)
Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! This week had four launches occur, with half of them using Falcon 9. News this week had the Artemis Accords reaching fifty signatories and NASA moving hardware for the Artemis II mission. 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 9th when Booster 14 was spotted being loaded with propellant. Not long after the booster performed a static fire on the Orbital Launch Mount with its thirty-three Raptor engines.
In the early hours of the day after its test, December 9th, Booster 14 was lifted off of the Orbital Launch Mount. During the lift, the booster was held at the catch height for a little while. Once the booster was back on the ground it was rolled out of the launch site to the production site.
Two days later on December 11th, Ship 33 was rolled out from the production site to the Massey's test site. Ship 33 is the first 'Block 2' Starship upper-stage. Later that night, movement tests of the launch towers 'chopsticks' took place.
A few days later, December 13th, Ship 33 began testing at the Massey's site. This testing had propellants loaded into the vehicle's liquid methane and liquid oxygen tanks as well as having its six Raptor engines perform a spin prime test.
Launches This Week
December 8th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-5
Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40, in Florida, carrying twenty-three Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. The booster supporting this mission was B1086, making its second flight and landing downrange on the drone ship 'A Shortfall Of Gravitas'.
December 12th - Long March 2D with five High-Speed Laser Diamond satellites
A Long March 2D blasted off from Launch Area 4 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carrying five High-Speed Laser Diamond satellites into low Earth orbit. The satellites are expected to test inter-satellite laser communication across three different orbits, which they were deployed into by a Yuanzheng-3 upper-stage.
December 13th - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 11-2
Another Falcon 9 launched from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, carrying twenty-two Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Supporting this mission was booster B1082 flying for the ninth time, and landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You'.
December 14th - Electron for a HASTE mission
Electron performed a Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) mission from Launch Complex 2, in Virginia, on a suborbital trajectory. The customer for this mission is unknown but they are likely linked to the U.S. Department of Defense.
In Other Space News
Artemis II SLS core stage lifted
NASA announced on December 10th that it had lifted the Space Launch System's (SLS) core stage from the Vehicle Assembly Building's (VAB) transfer aisle into High Bay 2, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Moving the core stage into High Bay 2 will allow NASA and Boeing teams to have 360-degree access while installing hardware needed ahead of further vehicle stacking. With the core stage out of the transfer aisle, more room is available for simultaneous work on staking the two solid rocket boosters.
Stacking for the Artemis II mission could take approximately four months, from the first solid rocket booster segments to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. However, the mission was recently delayed from September 2025 to April 2026.
Artemis Accords reaches fifty signatories
On December 11th, Panama and Austria signed the United States-led non-binding Artemis Accords, bringing the total number of signatories up to fifty. NASA's outgoing Administrator Bill Nelson said the following in celebration of fifty signatories:
“NASA welcomes Panama and Austria to the Artemis Accords community and celebrates 50 countries united by shared principles for the safe and responsible exploration of space,” – “More than ever before, NASA is opening space to more nations and more people for the benefit of all. Together we are building long-term and peaceful deep space exploration for the Artemis Generation.”
Panama's ambassador to the U.S., José Miguel Alemán Healy, signed on behalf of the country, and stated the following afterward:
“Today, Panama takes its place among many other nations looking not just to our own horizons, but to the horizons beyond our planet – exploring, learning, and contributing to humanity’s collective knowledge,” – "This moment represents far more than a diplomatic signature. It is a bold commitment to peaceful exploration, scientific discovery, and international collaboration."
Signing on behalf of Austria was the country's ambassador to the U.S., Petra Schneebauer. Schneebauer commented on the signing saying:
“Austria is proud to sign the Artemis Accords, an important step in fostering international cooperation for the civil exploration of the Moon and expanding humanity’s presence in the cosmos,” – “By signing the Accords, we reaffirm our commitment to the peaceful, responsible, and cooperative use of space while emphasizing our support for strong multilateral partnerships and scientific progress. This cooperation will open new prospects for Austrian businesses, scientists, and research institutions to engage in pioneering space initiatives.”
With the signing, Panama and Austria join Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Chile, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ukraine, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Bahrain, Singapore, Colombia, France, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Czech Republic, Spain, Ecuador, India, Argentina, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Angola, Belgium, Greece, Uruguay, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Lithuania, Peru, Slovakia, Armenia, Estonia, Denmark, and the Dominican Republic.
What to Expect Next Week
Starbase
As we have reported for the past few weeks, SpaceX has still not yet announced when they will be targeting the launch of Starship-Super Heavy's seventh flight test. The seventh flight test is expected to utilize Booster 14 and Ship 33, the first 'Block 2' Starship upper-stage. Both vehicles still need to complete static fire tests while SpaceX seeks regulatory approval, this mission will likely take place in early January 2025.
December 16th - Long March 5B with the first batch of GuoWang satellites
A Long March 5B is expected to liftoff from the Wenchang Space Launch Site carrying the first batch of satellites for the GuoWang (郭望) mega-constellation into a polar orbit. A Yuanzheng-2 upper-stage is also expected to be onboard to prevent the core stage from entering orbit along with delivering the satellites into a higher orbit.
December 16th - Long March 2D with four remote sensing satellites
A Long March 2D is expecting to liftoff from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center possibly carrying four remote sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. The four satellites are rumored to belong to the sixteen spacecraft PIESAT remote sensing constellation.
December 16th - Falcon 9 with O3b mPower 7 & 8
A Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Launch Complex 39A carrying two communication satellites to medium Earth orbit for SES.
December 17th - Falcon 9 with NROL-149
Another Falcon 9 is expecting to launch from Space Launch Complex 4E carrying a batch of Starshield satellites into low Earth orbit. Starshield is the military version of Starlink.
December 17th - Electron for 'Owl The Way Up'
Rocket Lab is planning to launch Electron from Launch Complex 1B, on the Māhia Peninsula, carrying a synthetic aperture radar satellite into low Earth orbit for Synspective.
December 17th - Falcon 9 with Astranis MicroGEO satellites
SpaceX is expecting to launch Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 carrying four of Astranis' MicroGEO communications satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit.
December 19th - Ceres-1S with a to-be-announced payload
Galactic Energy's Ceres-1S rocket, a sea-launched version of its Ceres-1 vehicle, is expected to launch from the Yellow Sea to low Earth orbit. Four Tianqi (天启) satellites are rumored to be on board for Guodian Gaoke's (国电高科) Internet-of-Things constellation.
December 20th - Falcon 9 for Bandwagon 2
SpaceX is planning to conduct its second mid-inclination low Earth orbit rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E, heading to low Earth orbit.
December 21st - Falcon 9 with Thuraya 4-NGS
Yet another Falcon 9 is expected to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 carrying the Thuraya 4-NGS communications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit on behalf of UAE-based Al Yah Satellite Communications.
December 21st - Falcon 9 with Starlink Group 12-2
SpaceX is expecting to launch another Falcon 9 to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A carrying a batch of Starlink satellites.
