Prime Highlights:
SpaceX completed two Falcon 9 missions over the weekend, marking its 132nd and 133rd launches of 2024.
The first launch on December 28 deployed 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, further expanding SpaceX’s broadband internet constellation.
The Falcon 9’s first stage booster successfully landed after its 16th mission, with 12 prior flights dedicated to Starlink launches.
Key Background:
SpaceX closed the year 2024 with a successful back-to-back launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. During the weekend, two missions launched a total of 22 Starlink satellites and Astranis’s One to Many Mission into orbit. Therefore, SpaceX will close 2024 as one of the most prolific companies in the space launch industry with 132 and 133 missions.
This launch occurred on December 28 from California-based Vandenberg Space Force Base. On top, with all nine booster shots, the Starlink payload injects into a low orbit of Earth as the 5:48 p.m. PST marks the deployment of the Falcon 9 launch. About 65 minutes within the mission timeline, and everything went right with its booster landing back on an oceanic platform called Droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” inside the Pacific Ocean. This would be the 16th launch on that particular booster, which has seen several Starlink missions to space in previous flights. For SpaceX, the mission marked the 88th of its Starlink launching to orbit this year in an attempt to add onto a rapidly expanding constellation of nearly 6,700 active satellites.
SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev took to social media posting the optimism that the house has about the last half of the year. To this, SpaceX is optimistic about targeting 134 in total, two shies from the actual target set. According to the vice president, Dontchev, who expressed excitement about what could be awaiting, wrote “Here’s to an awesome last couple of days in 2024 and an even better 2025.”
The second liftoff, at 12 a.m. EST on Sunday, December 29, placed four “MicroGEO” satellites for communications company Astranis into orbit. The mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. SpaceX was able to make necessary adjustments in the engine of its Starship rocket after the first failed attempt one week earlier, due to a technical glitch.
The MicroGEO satellites are designed to improve satellite communication services, including in-flight connectivity and broadband for various regions, especially the Philippines. Astranis CEO John Gedmark described the satellites as some of the most advanced the company has yet built, featuring improvements that will significantly increase capacity and reduce costs. SpaceX is scheduled to launch 21 more Starlink satellites next year on December 30. This will provide a very strong end to a highly productive year. The company continues to achieve its aggressive goals, which keeps SpaceX on track to increase its constellation further and improve its role in global communications.