SpaceX schedules Starlink launch from California as India prepares navigation satellite flight

Astronomy Magazine reported that SpaceX will launch the Starlink Group 15-16 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:45 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Starlink is a SpaceX broadband internet constellation. The company expects the Falcon 9 first-stage booster to land on Of Course I Still Love You, a droneship, in the Pacific Ocean, and SpaceX also plans booster recoveries on that droneship for later Starlink missions. The report also schedules Starlink Group 15-18 from Vandenberg on Friday, Oct. 30 at 12:02 a.m. EDT.

ISRO, India’s national space agency, plans to launch the NVS-03 navigation satellite aboard a GSLV Mk II rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2:21 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 30, according to Astronomy Magazine. The satellite is the third spacecraft in India’s planned series of five second-generation NavIC satellites. NavIC is India’s regional satellite navigation system. The first second-generation spacecraft, NVS-01, reached orbit in May 2023.

Astronomy Magazine dates the NVS-02 launch to January 2025 and says thruster trouble kept the satellite out of its designated orbit. NavIC needs four satellites for positioning service, and NVS-03 success would return the system to four working satellites. NVS-03 follows the January 2025 failure.

SpaceX will launch Starlink Group 15-18 from Vandenberg at 12:02 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 30, and the booster will target a landing on Of Course I Still Love You, Astronomy Magazine reported. The company will launch the USSF-432 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg on Sunday, Nov. 1, a mission that ends the week. The report gives no payload details for USSF-432, but says the Falcon 9 booster will land on Of Course I Still Love You. SpaceX will launch Starlink Group 15-21 from Vandenberg at 12:14 a.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 5, a flight that follows the Oct. 30 launches.

SpaceX launched Bandwagon-5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:04 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 20, and the booster landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas, Astronomy Magazine reported. Its booster used the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. The company also launched Starlink Group 15-15 from Vandenberg at 6:48 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 23. Its booster landed on Of Course I Still Love You.

Galactic Energy launched Xiguang-4 01 from Haiyang Oriental Spaceport aboard a Ceres-1S rocket at 11:39 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 20, Astronomy Magazine said. The outlet describes Haiyang Oriental Spaceport as a sea-launch facility off Shandong Province. The launch happened the same night as Bandwagon-5. Rocket Lab launched the Electron mission We’re Not Hawking Around from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula at 3:11 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 23, opening a busy Friday, Oct. 23.

The Electron carried three satellites for HawkEye 360, which tracks radio signals from orbit to monitor ships, aircraft, and other activity, according to Astronomy Magazine. CASC launched Long March 6A with Yaogan 50-03 from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 6:15 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 23. The outlet calls CASC China’s main state-owned space contractor. The company followed that flight later the same day with Long March 4B carrying six Yaogan satellites from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 3:25 p.m. EDT, a launch that followed the Long March 6A flight earlier on Friday.

CASC then launched SatNet LEO Group 28 aboard Long March 8A from Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island at 10:03 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 24, Astronomy Magazine reported. The launch closed the week on Saturday, Oct. 24, according to the report. Those satellites belong to Guowang, China’s state-run broadband megaconstellation, and the source describes them as part of that constellation.

JAXA launched the MMX mission aboard an H3-24L rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 3:41 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 19, according to Astronomy Magazine. MMX targets a Phobos landing and will collect samples from Phobos for return to Earth, with Mars arrival scheduled for August 2027. JAXA leads the mission with NASA, CNES, DLR, and ESA collaborating. The publication identifies Brooks Mendenhall as a staff writer in Chattanooga.