The Eutelsat mission launched at 5:52 PM EDT on a day that Florida tourist boards dream of: a warm sunny day with light winds that brought crowds to the beaches and riverfront not only to enjoy seeing a launch but also simply enjoy the nearly perfect weather.
I made a short video of a trip to Playalinda near Titusville in March 2024 to see SpaceX launch a Falcon 9 from pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center.
My news article from the day: Talk of Titusville: SpaceX Completes Doubleheader
I’m a lot better photographer and writer than filmmaker, but this is what it was like that day.
I found this document online years ago and am putting it up here for posterity.
It is a PDF, read in your browser or download. Be sure to run it through a virus-checker (it’s clean) but do it anyway just to be sure.
I recently said that covering Starlink launches is almost like covering Southwest Airlines’ daily flights from Orlando International Airport to Austin, Texas. It’s not that watching a rocket launch is boring, it never is, it is simply that SpaceX is flying missions to add to its Starlink constellation so regularly that it has become a reliable and routine service that’s much like, well, airline flights departing from the airport.
Tonight is such a launch, but this one comes with a big twist: it is the 20th flight of one of the company’s fleet of Falcon 9 boosters, and that is a first not only for SpaceX but also for spaceflight globally.
That this historic occasion is happening with little fanfare is a testament to the technical comptence of SpaceX generally, and the Falcon 9 teams that refurbish and launch them from the Cape specifically.
And while the booster and fairings are regularly reused, it must also be pointed out that their second stages are not, and that means that SpaceX’s factory in Hawthorne, California is creating not only the second stages at a torrid pace, they are also building Merlin Vacuum engines to power them as well. It is a job extremely well done by everyone, and it should be acknowledged as such by the spaceflight community generally.
23 Starlink satellites, to be used in SpaceX’s orbital-based Internet service.
The 45th Weather Squadron is forecasting all but perfect weather for a launch attempt tonight, with even better conditions tomorrow. Liftoff winds have less than a 5% chance of creating a Range Violation Friday, meaning a better than 95% chance of acceptable conditions. On Saturday, even that slight concern has been removed from the 45th’s forecast.
Falcon 9 will take a southeasterly direction tonight, as is customary for Group 6 Starlink missions.
Given that the flight is immediately offshore with no return to launch site, there will be no sonic boom from the launch this evening on the Space Coast.
Tonight is slated to be the 20th flight of Booster B1062, a first for SpaceX — and for spaceflight anywhere. We cover the record of this historic booster here: SpaceX Booster To Launch For 20th Time Friday Night.
That next flight is of interest because last May, “Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability, said in May [2023] that engineers were in the process of certifying Falcon 9 boosters for up to 20 flights for Starlink missions,” according to a report by Stephen Clark at Ars Technica.
Later in 2023, Nate Janzen, manager of launch pad systems and operations for SpaceX at Vandenberg told Santa Barbara, California’s Noozhaek that “Next year, SpaceX will re-evaluate and conduct analysis with an eye toward certifying the first-stage boosters for 25 to 30 flights.” Whether or not that certification has been achieved as of yet will be an interesting bit of news to follow.
Per SpaceX, “Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.”
After touching down on A Shortfall of Gravitas, the booster will be returned to Port Canveral after a few days, where it will be offloaded and transported to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center, where it will be inspected, refurbished and possibly prepared for another next flight.
1: this includes Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship Heavy Launches
2: Amos-6 is discounted due to a pad failure, not an in-flight anomoly
SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.com will have a livestream of the launch if you’re not able to watch the launch in person: Livestream
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 6-49. This will also be available on the X platform.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
This evening’s planned launch is from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, which means that the best direct views of liftoff are: Banana River Bridge on FL-528 W near Port Canaveral, or the southern parks on US-1 / S. Washington Avenue in Titusville. Kennedy Point Park and,Rotary Riverview Park (among others) are your best bets.
Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach Pier, Jetty Park Pier will have indirect views, meaning that liftoff will not be visible, but after the rocket clears the pad and any ground obstructions, you will be able to see Falcon 9 ascending clearly assuming there are no clouds between you and the rocket.
Being that the launch is in the evening, if you plan to attend in person, don’t forget mosquito spray. Be prepared for potential pushes in the launch schedule, and keep up by monitoring the live stream links mentioned above.
Starlink launches are almost as routine as airline flights these days, as SpaceX has had regular service from the Cape and Vandenberg Space Force Base in order to add to their ever-growing constellation of low-Earth orbit based communications satellites. Every few days, there’s another Starlink mission.
Key to the regular pace of their launches is the reuseability of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets. While the second stage is new for each flight, the fairings and of course the booster used for each launch is reused with regularity, greatly reducing the costs of payload delivery. This has not only allowed SpaceX to drastically reduce its cost through reducing the capital expenditure of building an entirely new rocket for each launch, its regular rotation of several boosters in its stable has allowed them to maintain a torrid pace where over 6,000 Starlink satellites have been placed in orbit by Falcon 9 rockets.
SpaceX has flown four boosters nineteen times so far: B1058, which was retired after a post-recovery incident led to the spacecraft toppling at sea and being damaged; B1060, now being refurbished prior to its next flight; B1061, which is awaiting flight assignment, and B1062, which is now being prepared for flight NET Friday for the Starlink 6-49 mission. Liftoff is planned to happen tomorrow, April 12th, between 9:22 PM and 12:48 AM EDT on April 13th.
On their website, SpaceX confirmed this information: “This will be the 20th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8, and 12 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.”
While the company did not specifically mention B1062, as you can see from its flight record below, SpaceX has identified B1062 will be the first to get to 20 launches.
B1062 was first used for a GPS launch in 2020, and its last launch was in March of this year when it launched Starlink 6-44. Its most notable missions so far are Inspiration 4 and Axiom-1, both of which were crewed. Perhaps almost as notable will be the 20th flight, which could come as soon as tomorrow evening.
| Flight | Mission | Date |
| 1 | GPS III SV04 Sacagawea | 11/05/2020 |
| 2 | GPS III SV05 Neil Armstrong | 06/17/2021 |
| 3 | Inspiration 4 | 09/16/2021 |
| 4 | Starlink 4-5 | 01/06/2022 |
| 5 | Axiom-1 | 04/08/2022 |
| 6 | Starlink 4-16 | 04/29/2022 |
| 7 | Nilesat-301 | 06/08/2022 |
| 8 | Starlink 4-25 | 07/24/2022 |
| 9 | Starlink 4-27 | 08/19/2022 |
| 10 | Starlink 4-36 | 10/20/2022 |
| 11 | Starlink 5-1 | 12/28/2022 |
| 12 | Starlink 5-4 | 02/12/2023 |
| 13 | OneWeb 17 | 03/09/2023 |
| 14 | ArabSat 7B | 05/27/2023 |
| 15 | Starlink 6-7 | 07/28/2023 |
| 16 | Starlink 6-23 | 10/18/2023 |
| 17 | Starlink 6-30 | 11/28/2023 |
| 18 | Starlink 6-38 | 01/29/2024 |
| 19 | Starlink 6-44 | 03/15/2024 |
Yesterday in Washington D.C., NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Masahito Moriyama signed an agreement regarding a Japanese contribution to the Artemis Project, a pressurized lunar rover tentatively called Lunar Cruiser. The vehicle will be transported to the Moon by NASA, and should be available for the Artemis VII mission, currently scheduled for NET 2031.
Lunar Cruiser has been in development since 2019 by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Toyota. The pressurized rover will allow for extended exploration past the range of the previously announced Lunar Terrain Vehicle, and will ostensibly allow for two astronaurs to remain aboard for up to thirty days. Like the LTV, it is expected to last ten years.
According to a press release from Toyota, “The Lunar Cruiser seeks to achieve a high level of mobility and allow astronauts to explore safely and comfortably. We will contribute to this endeavor by offering the reliability, durability, driving performance, and FC (fuel cell) technology that Toyota has cultivated through long years of vehicle development. Technologies developed for the moon can then be fed back to the Earth and be used to create better vehicles and develop technologies for sustainable society and the planet.”
“Lunar Cruiser” is a working name for the lunar rover project, which Toyota makes clear. The company says that the vehicle is officially called a “crewed pressurized rover.” According to them, “It features a pressurized cabin, an enclosed space where the air pressure is controlled to create an environment similar to Earth’s. Unlike previous lunar rovers, this means that those onboard need not wear extravehicular suits, even in an unforgiving environment with one-sixth of Earth’s gravity and temperatures ranging from 120°C during the day to -170°C at night.”
The vehicle is slated to use Regenerative Fuel Cell technology and a 30-day mission duration, meaning it can get through an entire lunar night without needing an outside source to power the vehicle.
Regenerative Fuel Cells have dual capabilities: also called reverse fuel cells or secondary fuel cells, are fuel cells that can be operated in two modes: electrolyzer mode and fuel cell mode. In electrolyzer mode, RFCs store water as hydrogen and oxygen. In fuel cell mode, the stored hydrogen and oxygen are used to generate power. RFCs can be powered with electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water. With limited resources on the lunar surface, this technology may well come in quite handy: the South Pole, where Project Artemis is focusing, may well have water resources that could potentially be used with Lunar Cruiser.
Toyota is the world’s best-selling automaker, selling 11.2 million cars globally in 2023 for the fourth year in a row. They are also a technological leader in many aspects of vehicle design and technology. Industry analysts have also labeled Toyota as the commercial leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology, pointing out that the company has been at the forefront of the mass-market development of hydrogen cars for decades.
Toyota began working on fuel cell technology in 1992, and by 2005, the FCHV (Fuel Cell Hydrogen Vehicle) was available for sale in limited quantities in Japan and the U.S. In 2014, the Mirai was launched for sale in various global markets, making a mainstream hydrogen fuel cell car available to the public.
At the onset of the Land Cruiser project in 2019, Toyota Chairman and CEO Akio Toyoda said: “The automotive industry has long done business with the concepts of ‘hometown’ and ‘home country’ largely in mind. However, from now on, in responding to such matters as environmental issues of global scale, the concept of ‘home planet’, from which all of us come, will become a very important concept. Going beyond the frameworks of countries or regions, I believe that our industry, which is constantly thinking about the role it should fulfill, shares the same aspirations of international space exploration.”
Toyoda added at the time that “I am extremely happy that, for this project, expectations have been placed on the thus-far developed durability and driving performance of Toyota vehicles and on our fuel cell environmental technologies.”
Since then, Toyota and JAXA have made progress on the vehicle. In an update in the Toyota Times on September 16, 2023, Toyota announced that “[T]he joint research with JAXA was completed in 2022, and Toyota is currently in the preliminary development phase before beginning work on the main vehicle in 2024.”
Toyota has also joined forces with another Japanese industrial giant, Mitsubishi. In the same 2023 update where the project phase transition was announced, Ken Yamashita, the Project Head of the Lunar Exploration Mobility Works Project at Toyota said “in late 2022, we confirmed that we would be working together with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, not just in the provision of individual components but on system-level development. We decided this would be a good opportunity to present the team structure behind development.”
The idea makes good sense. MHI is well experienced in aerospace projects and is currently working on a number of Japanese efforts that will not only add to the country’s scientific knowledge and aerospace capability but will also serve to inform projects like the Lunar Cruiser.
Atsushi Nakajima, of MHI Space Systems Division said in September 2023, “Currently, we are also working on space exploration-related projects, including a new cargo transporter, equipment for the I-HAB habitation module of the Gateway crewed lunar orbit station, and the LUPEX rover that will search for water resources on the moon’s surface. We will utilize our existing technologies in spacecraft integration, space environment resistance, and human space stays to help develop the crewed pressurized rover’s systems.”
“In addition,” Nakajima said, “we expect that data acquired from the moon’s surface by the LUPEX rover, which is being developed for launch in the mid-2020s, will contribute to the pressurized rover’s development.”
Now that Toyota and its partners have officially transitioned to its final development phase prior to vehicle production, it is fair to say that this vehicle is well on its way to the showroom floor: the South Pole region of Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor.
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Astrolab to design a Lunar Terrain Vehicle, the agency announced earlier today in a press conference held in Houston. Each company named today will begin with a feasibility task order, which will be a year-long special study to develop their system to meet NASA’s requirements through the preliminary design maturity project.
Afterward one or more qualifying companies will be chosen to complete a demonstration mission, where it/they will continue developing the LTV, deliver it to the surface of the Moon, and validate its performance and safety prior to Artemis V, the first mission planned to take advantage of the LTV. While they left the door open today for more than one, NASA stated in a press release today that they anticipate making an award to only one provider for the demonstration.
Artemis V is currently planned for no earlier than 2029.
“This procurement strategically aligns with the Company’s flight-proven capability to deliver payloads to the surface of the Moon under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, further solidifying our position as a proven commercial contractor in lunar exploration,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus in a press release issued by the company today. “Our global team is on a path to provide essential lunar infrastructure services to NASA in a project that would allow the Company to retain ownership of the vehicle for commercial utilization during periods of non-NASA activity over approximately ten years of lunar surface activity.”
“Astrolab is honored to have its FLEX rover selected by NASA to participate in the development of creating a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for the Artemis Campaign,” said Jaret Matthews, founder & CEO, Astrolab in a press release issued today. “Our entire team, together with our business partners, are committed to delivering to NASA an LTV that serves as a critical tool in the agency’s efforts to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.”
“We’re excited to work with Astrolab and the entire team to revolutionize lunar operations,” said Russell Ralston, Vice President of EVA, Axiom Space. “We look forward to offering our expertise in the design of vehicle interfaces for both the crew and spacesuits, ensuring astronaut safety and mobility on the surface of the Moon. This partnership showcases a collective commitment to pushing boundaries and driving advancements in space exploration.”
Lunar Outpost will work with Lockheed Martin, General Motors, Goodyear and MDA Space to develop their LTV.
“Surface mobility is a critical capability for humanity’s future in space, and Lunar Outpost looks forward to driving value in the cislunar economy by providing a reliable, safe and capable vehicle that will be used to provide mobility to Artemis astronauts and perform critical missions autonomously on the Moon for commercial endeavors,” said Lunar Outpost CEO, Justin Cyrus. “We look forward to leveraging the strengths of Lockheed Martin, a company with extensive human and advanced space systems experience, and our other industry teammates, GM, Goodyear and MDA Space, to provide an unparalleled technical offering at a commercially viable price point.”
“We look forward to the development of the Artemis generation lunar exploration vehicle to help us advance what we learn at the Moon,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This vehicle will greatly increase our astronauts’ ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions.”
Besides enduring the extreme lunar conditions of the Moon’s South Pole region, the new rover requirements include advanced power management, autonomous driving, communications and navigation systems. When crews are not actively using the rovers on their missions on the lunar surface, NASA also expects to be able to use the rovers remotely to “support NASA’s scientific objectives as needed.” NASA added that “Outside those times, the provider will have the ability to use their LTV for commercial lunar surface activities unrelated to NASA missions.”
“We will use the LTV to travel to locations we might not otherwise be able to reach on foot, increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With the Artemis crewed missions, and during remote operations when there is not a crew on the surface, we are enabling science and discovery on the Moon year around.”
Today was an active day for launch scheduling: United Launch Alliance has announced that they will make their next attempt to launch Delta IV Heavy and NROL-70 on Tuesday April 9th, and later, NASA announced that the Crewed Flight Test of Boeing’s Starliner is now Monday, May 6th.
Delta IV was scrubbed at T-min 3:58 by a faulty gaseous nitrogen pump on its first attempt March 28, and at the time, ULA engineers and CEO Tory Bruno were optimistic that a second attempt could happen the next day. Unfortunately, the pump failed again, and ULA stated that they would announce a new launch date only when they were certain that they and NASA (who provides the N2 service to the pad) were past the problem.
Today ULA released their new target date:
DELTA IV HEAVY TO LAUNCH NROL-70
“A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket is launching the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This is the 16th and final launch of a Delta IV Heavy rocket.
Launch Date and Time: April 9 at 12:53 p.m. EDT, pending range approval
GO Delta IV Heavy! GO NROL-70!“
United Launch Alliance, April 2, 2024
The launch will be from SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Later on in the day, rumors of a shift in the Starliner launch date from May 1st came to pass when NASA made this announcement:
NASA, Boeing Update Launch Date for Starliner’s First Astronaut Flight
“Following a review of the International Space Station operations, NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test now is targeting no earlier than Monday, May 6, for Starliner’s first launch with astronauts to the orbital complex. The date adjustment optimizes space station schedule of activities planned toward the end of April, including a cargo spacecraft undocking and a crew spacecraft port relocation required for Starliner docking. NASA and Boeing also are performing prelaunch closeout work and completing final certification for flight.”
NASA, Boeing Update Launch Date for Starliner’s First Astronaut Flight
It should be noted that Starliner’s launch date was not moved due to any technical issue, but instead because of ISS logistics.
NASA Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be aboard Starliner when it heads to the International Space Station for a planned one week stay on the orbiting outpost.
Robert D. “Bob” Cabana, a former NASA astronaut, NASA Associate Administrator (the agency’s third highest-ranking executive) and Director of Kennedy Space Center, has joined IBX, a firm that invests in and fosters innovation in space-related companies. Founded by engineer and entrepreneur Kam Ghaffirian, IBX supports companies Ghaffirian helped found: Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines, Quantum Space and X-energy along with other ventures. Cabana will serve as a Senior Advisor with the company.
Cabana, who flew on four Shuttle missions, as pilot on STS-41 and STS-53 and mission commander on STS-65 and STS-88, has logged 38 days in space. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and served in the US Marines prior to joining NASA.
“I’m truly excited to join Kam’s innovative team at IBX, supporting the continued advancement of our nation’s space program and pushing the boundaries of technology for a brighter future on Earth and beyond,” said Cabana in a press released issued today by IBX.
Axiom Space has managed the flights of three groups of astronauts to the International Space Station, and has a fourth flight scheduled for later this year. They also have a contract to provide NASA with the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), a spacesuit will provide astronauts advanced capabilities to access, live and work on and around the Moon.
Axiom is also currently building the first segment of a commercial space station, Axiom Station. Working with Thales Alenia Space, fabrication is well underway with a planned launch in 2026.
Intuitive Machines just completed their first lunar landing with IM-1, a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload System (CLPS) mission that was the first successful American landing on the Moon’s surface since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
That mission was partially successful in that it did complete the lunar landing, but it also had issues with its lander’s navigation system that resulted with a lander on its side near the south pole of the Moon. Intuitive has another CLPS mission scheduled for later this year using another of its Nova-C landers, and the company has said that it will incorporate lessons learned to during IM-1 into its IM-2 mission planned for sometime in Q4 2024.
Quantum Space is a company that plans to provide data services beyond low-Earth orbit, in geosynchronous and cislunar space. It is creating a laser-based system that will be utilized in a modular fleet of spacecraft that will incorporate external payloads as well as data collection based on its own systems.
The QS-1 spacecraft — Ranger — launch is ostensibly scheduled for late 2024 and will include off-the-shelf processor and navigation electronics provided by Beyond Gravity, a subsidiary of RUAG. According to the company, “Ranger is powered by storable chemical propulsion and can transport rideshare payloads, from cubesats to larger OTV [Orbital Test Vehicles.]”
X-energy is a reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear reactor design that do not rely on active systems or power to ensure reactor safety. They are also developing a new reactor fuel called TRISO-X that can withstand four times the temperature of current nuclear fuel, but is priced similarly to those older materials.
A completed TRISO-X unit is about the size of a billiards ball, and is filled with tiny particles of enriched fuel that is triple-wrapped in a high temperature carbon ceramic material that makes the unit self-contained, meltdown-proof and mechanically resilient unit. Compared to current nuclear fuel rods, it is far safer, making it an ideal candidate for the next generation of nuclear reactors.
Based in Rockwell, Maryland, X-energy has received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance X-energy’s reactor development program. In March 2023, X-energy and Dow Inc agreed to develop a grid-scale next-generation Xe-100 nuclear reactor at one of Dow’s sites on the Gulf Coast of the US.
Undoubtedly, Cabana’s experience and expertise will quite an asset to IBX and the companies it is invested in, and also undoubtedly, Cabana will be a busy man, given all of the activities that these companies are taking part in.
There will be no attempt to launch Delta IV Heavy from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today as the company continues working with NASA and other US government agencies to correct the gaseous nitrogen problem that caused a scrub at T-minus three minutes and fifty-eight seconds last Thursday.
According to many space launch scheduling sites, today was the expected day for the last Delta IV Heavy to head to orbit with the NROL-70 payload aboard. Those sites often use reliable secondary sources to make their scheduling predictions, for example, FAA notifications to pilots of planned launch activities. ULA never officially announced a new date for a launch attempt, and apparently, work continues on the issues that caused the original scrub.
While the scheduling sites are nearly always accurate in their lists, this time they panned out some fool’s gold and were incorrect.
Saturday, Talk of Titusville asked ULA CEO Tory Bruno for an update, and this was his reply:
Bruno also added that “[A]s frustrating as this delay might be, The overall all level of support we get from our USG partners is outstanding. Far better than anything we might experience on a daily basis in an average commercial airport going to and from a launch.” Clearly, everyone involved is working hard to rectify the issues keeping NROL-70 and Delta IV Heavy grounded.
Meanwhile, it appears that an April 8 launch attempt may be in the cards:
Keep in mind that this is the from the same set of sources that were incorrect over the weekend.
That is the same day and roughly the same time that a total solar eclipse will be making its way across a large swath of the US. The Space Coast will only see a partial eclipse, but it could be an interesting time to see a rocket in flight in the daytime.
Take it for what it is worth — ULA has still not announced a firm date/time for Delta IV Heavy as of the time of this writing. (Monday, April 1st at 8:30 AM EDT.)
Check back here at Talk of Titusville for any updates. We will pass them along as soon as they are available.
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