Iridium is launching five spare satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) on the company’s ninth Iridium NEXT launch.

The Iridium network operates 66 cross-linked satellites that provide reliable, weather-resilient connectivity to 100% of the globe.

These five spare satellites are joining the other nine spares for extra redundancy, ready to serve the company’s 2 million-plus subscribers.

Iridium designs and builds a number of products including satellite phones, Internet of Things (IoT) terminals, and mobile connectivity solutions. The company also makes its core technologies available to its ecosystem of partners who develop Iridium Connected solutions for businesses, governments, and individuals around the world.

OneWeb

Update: Launch 19 will add another 16 satellites to OneWeb’s first-generation constellation, bringing the total number of satellites in-orbit to 634.

Launch 18 which launched on Mar 25, 2023, added another 36 satellites to OneWeb’s first-generation constellation, bringing the total number of satellites in-orbit to 618.

Launch 17 which launched on Mar 9, 2023, added another 40 satellites to OneWeb’s first-generation constellation, bringing the total number of satellites in-orbit to 582.

OneWeb is a space-based internet company owned by the British government and an Indian-British company since July 2020.

Based in London, the company is building a satellite constellation with the goal of providing high-speed broadband services to people around the globe.

Originally named WorldVu, the first six test OneWebs of a then-planned 1,240 satellite constellation were launched from South America in February 2019 on a Russian Soyuz rocket purchased by Europe's Arianespace launch services corporation.

After the first mission, operational OneWeb satellites began launching in batches of 34 or 36 on Soyuz rockets provided by Arianespace and Starsem, the part of Roscosmos (the Russian space agency) that handles commercial flights of the Soyuz.

All of those Arianespace-Starsem missions have launched either from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan or the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia.

In May 2020, while in bankruptcy and before its purchase by the British government, OneWeb asked the Federal Communications Commission in the United States (a controlling authority for OneWeb) to increase the number of satellites in the constellation from 1,240 to 47,844.

In January 2021, OneWeb amended the request down to just 6,372 satellites for the constellation.

The entire OneWeb network will operate in a 1,200 km orbit and will provide global internet service. However, the British government has been quick to limit access to the service.

Photo credit: OneWeb (Early 2020)

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.

Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket.

Stats
Total launches: 326

Total landings: 283

Total reflights: 257

The Falcon 9 has launched 49 humans into orbit since May 2020

Specs

Height: 70 m / 229.6 ft

Diameter: 3.7 m / 12 ft

Mass: 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb

Payload to LEO: 22,800 kg / 50,265 lb

Payload to GTO: 8,300 kg / 18,300 lb

Payload to Mars: 4,020 kg / 8,860 lb

On January 24, 2021, Falcon 9 launched the first ride-share mission to Sun Synchronous Orbit. It was delivering a record-setting 143 satellites to space. And while this was an important mission for SpaceX in itself, it was also the moment Falcon 9 overtook United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V for the total number of consecutive successful launches.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 had become America’s workhorse rocket, launching 31 times in 2021. It has already beaten that record this year, launching almost an average of once a week. While most of the launches deliver Starlink satellites to orbit, the company is still launching the most commercial payloads to orbit, too.

Falcon 9 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, with the capability to launch over 22.8 metric tonnes to low earth orbit. Unlike any other rocket, its first stage lands back on Earth after separating from its second stage. In part, this allows SpaceX to offer the cheapest option for most customers with payloads that need to reach orbit.

Under its ride-share program, a kilogram can be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit for a mere 1.1 million dollars, far cheaper than all other currently operating small satellite launch vehicles.

The reusability and fast booster turnaround times have made Falcon 9 the preferred choice for private companies and government agencies. This has allowed SpaceX to capture a huge portion of the launch market.

Image: SpaceX / Ben Cooper

Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base is SpaceX’s west coast launch and landing facility. The launch pad is named SLC-4E (as it is the eastern-most of the two areas).

Originally built in the early 1960s for Atlas-Agena rockets, SLC-4E served that rocket line until 1967, when it was taken offline and then rebuilt for the Titan IIID rockets.

It launched the Titan IIID from 1971 to 1988, after which it was reconfigured and used for the Titan IV between 1991 and 2005.

SpaceX leased SLC-4E in 2011 and spent two years rebuilding the pad for the Falcon 9 rocket.

The pad exclusively launched Falcon 9 polar missions from 2013 to 2019.  However, in 2020, SpaceX began splitting those launches between Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral after the Air Force agreed to allow polar launches from Florida after a 51 year ban (because of the then-dangers of overflying Cuba during launch).

Despite new launch opportunities from Florida, SpaceX is not abandoning Vandenberg; many more launches are planned from this location.

Photo: Pauline Acalin

The Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship "Of Course I Still Love You" is one of three ocean recovery ships for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

It has been moved through the Panama Canal to the west coast to support SpaceX booster recoveries after being launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.