This Week Ahead in Launches: Triple SpaceX launch week, then Rocket Lab to round it out

We’re back with another busy launch week dominated by SpaceX but with a big NASA mission out of New Zealand this weekend. Check out what is launching below.

This Week’s Launches:

• April 25
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink Group 3-5, 9:02 a.m. ET
    • SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
• April 26
  • SpaceX Falcon Heavy ViaSat 3 Americas, 7:24 p.m. ET
    • LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
• April 28
  • SpaceX Falcon 9 O3b mPOWER 3 & 4, 5:12 p.m. ET
    • SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
• April 30
  • Rocket Lab Electron TROPICS Flight 2: Rocket Like A Hurricane, 9:00 p.m. ET
    • LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand

SpaceX to throw away an entire Falcon Heavy

There’s always a bit of whimper from SpaceX fans when they see the company expend a Falcon 9 rocket. A rocket with such an excellent reuse record, it’s always sad to see one never fly again. So now I can’t wait to see what people say about SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon Heavy launch, the first since January, which will expend all three boosters.

The payload, a communication satellite for ViaSat, is launching into a near-direct injection geostationary orbit. The Falcon Heavy is one of only a few rockets that can pull this off. To do so, however, means that the side and center core boosters will be burned until empty – cheating us of seeing our beloved double booster landings at LZ-1 and 2.

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This launch will be smack dab in the middle of two other SpaceX launches. The company sure is taking advantage of all three of its launch sites, using all three of them this week. The week will start with the Starlink launch from the West Coast and then end, if there are no weather delays, with O3b mPOWER 3 and 4 on Friday from SLC-40.

SpaceX hopes to launch 100 rockets this year, and if they are to meet that rate, more weeks like this will be needed.

Rocket Lab launching two hurricane-watching satellites

NASA’s TROPICS mission was initially supposed to launch on Astra’s Rocket 3.3 vehicle but failed to reach orbit. Astra then moved on to developing its Rocket 4 vehicle forcing NASA to find a new ride. Rocket Lab accommodated and won the contract to launch the final four satellites.

This mission will host two of NASA’s TROPICS payloads that will orbit close to the equator and gather data on developing storms. As someone who has lived in Florida for several years, I know the importance of having up-to-date information on hurricanes. This will help the meteorology sector better understand these storms, hopefully saving lives.

This will be the company’s second launch from New Zealand and fourth overall.