SpaceX will kick off its 2023 campaign on Tuesday by launching 114 satellites on its Transporter-6 rideshare mission. The Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to liftoff at 9:56 a.m. EST (14:56 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Transporter 6 — Top Payloads
| Company/Agency | Payloads | Purpose | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planet Labs | SuperDove | Earth observation | 36 |
| Swarm Technologies | SpaceBEE | Communications | 12 |
| Skykraft | Skykraft | Air traffic management | 6* |
| Spire Global | Lemur-2 | Meteorology, ship & aircraft tracking | 6 |
| DARPA+ | Blackjack | Reconnaissance | 4 |
| Astrocast | Astrocast | Internet of Things | 4 |
| Sen | EarthTV | Earth observation – UHD streaming | 4 |
| Kleos Space | KSF3 | Navigation | 4 |
| ICEYE | ICEYE | Earth observation | 3 |
| Albania government/Satellogic | Albania-1, -2 | Earth observation | 2 |
| D-Orbit | ION SCV-007, -008 | CubeSat deployer | 2 |
| Lynk Global | Lynk Tower 3, 4 | Communications | 2 |
| Royal NLR++/TNO^/FFI** | MilSpace-2 1, -2 2 | Tech demo | 2 |
| Satellogic | ÑuSat 34, 35 | Earth observation | 2 |
| Umbra Lab | Umbra-05, -06 | Earth observation | 2 |
| Total | 90 |
*5 satellites and Skykraft satellite deployer
++Royal Netherlands Space Centre
^Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
**Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
SpaceX has launched 436 payloads on five previous Transporter missions. Like on the upcoming launch, all satellites have been placed in sun-synchronous orbits. (See Who Launched What on SpaceX’s Five Transporter Missions.)
Scheduled Orbital Launches
Jan. 2-9, 2022
| Date | Launcher – Organization | Payload – Organization | Purpose(s) | Launch Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 3 | Falcon 9 – SpaceX | 114 satellites – multiple | Multiple | Cape Canaveral |
| Jan. 8 | Falcon 9 – SpaceX | 40 OneWeb – OneWeb | Broadband | Kennedy |
| Jan. 9 | Long March 7A – CASC | Shijian 23 – CAST | Tech demo | Wenchang |
| Jan. 9-13 | RS1 – ABL Space | VariSat-1A, 1B – VariSat | Communications | PSC – Alaska |
On Jan. 8, a Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch 40 OneWeb broadband satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It’s the second of three launches OneWeb booked with SpaceX after the company’s contract to launch on Soyuz rockets in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
ABL Space will attempt to launch its RS1 rocket on its maiden flight from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska after multiple unsuccessful attempts last year. The launch window is open from Jan. 9-13.
A Chinese Long March 7A is scheduled to launch the Shijian 23 technology demonstration satellite aboard a Long March 7A on Jan. 9.
