SpaceX Approaches Milestone with 100th Orbital Launch of 2024

SpaceX is on the verge of achieving a significant milestone with its 100th orbital launch of the year, involving the Falcon family of rockets. This landmark achievement will be reached through the deployment of OneWeb‘s final batch of first-generation internet satellites. The mission, referred to as ‘OneWeb Launch #20,’ is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:13 p.m. PDT on Saturday, October 19 (1:13 a.m. EDT, 0513 UTC on Sunday, October 20).

Spaceflight Now has announced its live coverage of the event, starting approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled liftoff. The Falcon 9 first stage booster designated for this mission, with tail number B1082 in the SpaceX fleet, is slated for its seventh flight. The booster has previously supported missions USSF-62 and five Starlink launches. Less than eight minutes post-launch, B1082 is expected to return to Vandenberg for a landing at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4). A successful return will mark the 21st booster landing at LZ-4 and SpaceX’s 77th land recovery.

OneWeb’s quest to complete its first-generation satellite internet constellation was fraught with challenges. Initially aiming for 648 satellites, the company’s Launch #19 on May 20, 2023, brought its total to 634. The final 20 satellites onboard Launch #20 will ensure OneWeb surpasses its target.

The company’s plans underwent various changes, starting with its inaugural launch on February 27, 2019, when six satellites aboard a Soyuz rocket took off from French Guiana. Subsequent launches were affected by logistical and geopolitical challenges. Notably, OneWeb suspended its collaboration with Roscosmos in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving launch arrangements in disarray.

To overcome these setbacks, OneWeb secured launch agreements with SpaceX and the Indian Space Research Organization in March 2022. SpaceX completed three satellite launches, and India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre launched additional payloads, keeping the OneWeb project on course.

In May 2023, OneWeb announced a collaboration with Eutelsat, culminating in the formation of the Eutelsat Group. This merger combines OneWeb’s low Earth orbit capabilities with Eutelsat’s geostationary expertise. “With the addition of the satellites deployed from this launch, OneWeb will increase the resiliency and redundancy in the constellation as it expands services to its growing base of enterprise and government customers,” stated company officials.

Eutelsat OneWeb’s Gen 2 constellation, featuring certain innovative technologies like digital regenerative processing, is expected to offer enhanced flexibility and capacity for clients, efficient resource management, and swift responses to emergencies.