The Weekly Rocket Report #19
03/24/2025-03/30/2025
Ricky Whitmore
Space Writer
Hello everyone, welcome back to The Weekly Rocket Report. Let’s launch right in!
The week began Monday afternoon with Falcon 9 launching NROL-69. The payload, which is believed to be an ocean surveillance satellite for the US Navy, was deployed successfully. Following stage separation, the booster landed back at the Cape on LZ-1.
Falcon 9 launches NROL-69. Photo Credit: SpaceX.
The next launch came Wednesday morning from Rocket Lab. An Electron rocket carried 8 satellites for Orora Tech to orbit on a mission called “Finding Hot Wildfires Near You” (I see what you did there Rocket Lab). The satellites are part of a constellation that will help detect and track wildfires from space, allowing for early warning and better response preparation.
Electron preparing to launch “Finding Hot Wildfires Near You”. Photo Credit: Rocket Lab.
Moving on we head to China, where a Long March 3B/E blasted into orbit. The rocket was carrying Tianlian-2-04, a relay satellite that helps connect satellites in orbit to ground stations back on Earth.
Back to Falcon 9, which launched Starlink Group 11-7 Wednesday evening. The 27 satellites were deployed to orbit, and the rocket’s 1st stage booster landed back down range on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You”.
To China once again for the launch of a Long March 7A. The payload, TJSW-16, is claimed to be a communications satellite, though as with all military satellites from China, we may never truly know.
The last launch of the week is one that many had been looking forward to. Isar Aerospace attempted the first launch of its Spectrum rocket. The launch unfortunately was not successful, with the rocket losing control and crashing back down to Earth shortly after clearing the tower. However, it must be said that a tremendous amount of data will be gleaned from this flight, and I have no doubt that Spectrum will be back on the pad before long. This flight also marked another first, being the first rocket to launch from the Andoya Rocket Range in Norway. (More on Spectrum here: https://www.theweeklyspaceman.com/articles/spectrums-first-flight-ends-in-an-explosion-after-launch )
Spectrum launches its Demo Flight. Photo Credit: Isar Aerospace.
That’s the week, quite an exciting one, lots of variety in the launches. Next week is shaping up to be interesting, with the launch of the Fram2 polar mission set to launch Monday evening. However as of now that is the one of only 2 missions for the week, alongside a Starlink mission launching as I write this article. It should be said that its not uncommon for a Falcon 9, or a Long March launch to pop up on the schedule with only days’ notice. We will wait and see, and we will be back to cover it all next week, on The Weekly Rocket Report!
EDIT FROM THE AUTHOR:
5 Minutes after the writing of this article, I re-checked the launch schedule that I utilize, and 5 new launches have been added throughout the week, 2 Long Marches, and 3 Falcon 9s. In the 10 minutes between my checks of the schedule, 5 launches were added. Life is often funny that way. What can I say, I’m a psychic.
As always feel free to write to me at rickyew2112@gmail.com, or find me on X @Rickyew2112
Sic Itur Ad Astra
(Thus They Journey to the Stars)