Rocket Lab to launch space debris tracker satellites - TWIRL #148

There aren’t too many launches coming up this week, but probably the most interesting will be Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, which will be carrying four Skylark Space Situational Awareness satellites. These will be used to help track hard-to-observe space debris.

This mission is quite important because the more satellites that there are being sent up into space, the more junk there is. If not managed, it can lead to collisions. With more and more astronauts being in space than before, this debris is increasingly becoming a risk to people, so it has to be managed.

Tuesday, 23 January

• Who: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

   

• What: Kinetica 1
• When: 4:05 a.m. UTC
• Where: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre
• Why: This will be the third launch of the Kinetica 1 rocket. It will put five satellites into orbit for MinoSpace. The satellites include Beijing Huanbao 1, Taijing 1-03, Taijing 2-04, Taijing 3-02, and Taijing 4-03.

Saturday, 27 January

• Who: Rocket Lab

   

• What: Electron
• When: 6:15 - 7:00 a.m. UTC
• Where: New Zealand
• Why: Rocket Lab will launch the first four Skylark Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites for Spire Global. These satellites are actually really interesting; they’re CubeSats operated by Spire for NorthStar Earth and will monitor space debris that can’t be observed from the ground. Customers will be able to get granular data about orbital debris problems.

Recap

• The first launch last week saw SpaceX launch a Falcon 9 carrying 22 Starlink satellites, which will beam internet to the Earth.

• The second launch was another Falcon 9 Starlink launch.

• The first launch this week from China was a Long March 7 carrying the Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft, which is resupplying the Chinese space station.

• For the fourth launch, we were back with SpaceX, which launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying several Axiom Space astronauts to the International Space Station.

• Here’s footage of the crew unloading at the ISS.

That’s it for this week; check by next time.

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