SpaceX is getting ready for a surge of geostationary communications satellite tv for pc launches after a number of sluggish years.
Within the late 2010s, orders of enormous geostationary commsats plummeted. Previously a mainstay of the industrial launch business, western geostationary satellite tv for pc launches turned a lot rarer in 2019 and the early 2020s. That downturn was particularly noticeable for SpaceX, the place geostationary switch orbit (GTO) launches had been one of the vital widespread missions carried out by its Falcon 9 rockets from 2014 via 2018.
In its first 5 years, SpaceX accomplished 28 GTO launches for industrial prospects. That interval culminated in 2018, when Falcon 9 carried out 9 industrial GTO launches in a single yr. The sector then fell off a cliff as years of scarce satellite tv for pc orders got here to roost. From November 2018 to October 2022, SpaceX accomplished simply 11 GTO launches. Solely in late 2022 did its GTO launch exercise start to choose again up.
Within the area of two months, SpaceX accomplished 5 industrial GTO launches, bringing its 2022 whole to seven. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket additionally accomplished a pair of direct geosynchronous launches for the US army in November 2022 and January 2023. That resurgence of excessive Earth orbit launches is ready to proceed in 2023.
SpaceX has as much as 11 industrial GTO or direct-to-GEO satellite tv for pc launches scheduled in 2023. Together with Area Norway’s Arctic Broadband Satellite tv for pc Mission satellites, that are headed to an unique excessive Earth orbit (GEO) as a substitute of GTO, SpaceX has a dozen GEO/HEO satellite tv for pc launches deliberate this yr. A Falcon Heavy rocket launched the US army’s USSF-67 on to geosynchronous orbit final month, and one other Falcon Heavy is predicted to launch the USSF-52 mission to GTO in the course of the yr.
Even when a couple of missions slip into 2024, 2023 might be essentially the most prolific yr of SpaceX geostationary satellite tv for pc launches ever. Unofficial manifests point out that SpaceX has one other ten GTO launches scheduled in 2024, 2025, and past.