Launch Roundup – Indian Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Lander Tops the Bill

India’s second mission to land on the Moon and a Chinese company’s attempt to fly the world’s first methane-powered rocket headline this week’s Launch Roundup.

An Indian LVM III rocket is scheduled to liftoff with the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander on July 14 at 5:05 AM EDT (09:05 UTC/14:35 IST). The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will webcast the launch.

Chandrayaan-3 will carry instruments to study the lunar environment and deploy a small rover to explore the surface. The mission’s payloads include:

1. Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (lander)
2. Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (lander)
3. Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (lander)
4. Laser Retroreflector Array (lander)
5. Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (rover)
6. Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (rover)
7. Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (propulsion module)

Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled for an August 23 or August 24 arrival. The lander and rover are scheduled to operate for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days.

The mission is a replacement for Chandrayaan-2, which crashed while descending to the lunar surface in September 2019. Chandrayaan-3 lacks its predecessor’s orbiter, which continues to return data about the Moon.

Upcoming Launches

LandSpace of China will make another attempt to launch its Zhuque-2 rocket on July 12. The rocket, which is fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, failed on its maiden launch last December after its second-stage vernier engines shut down prematurely.

To date, no launch vehicles powered by methane have successfully reached orbit. SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy booster and Vulcan Centaur’s first-stage BE-4 engines use methane.

Rocket Lab is set to conduct its sixth orbital launch of the year from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand on July 14. The Electron booster will carry four Starling satellites for NASA, a pair of Lemur-2 spacecraft for Spire Global, and Telesat’s LEO 3 communications satellite.

NASA’s Starling mission is designed to test how small swarms of satellites can work together in a synchronized manner without resources from the ground. The spacecraft will test maneuvering, communications, navigation, and autonomous coordination.

Recent Launches

Europe’s venerable Ariane 5 bowed out in style on July 5 when it launched the Heinrich Hertz communications satellite for the German Aerospace Center and the Syracuse 4B communications satellite for France’s Directorate General of Armament.

Ariane 5, which first flew in June 2006, finished its 17-year career with a record of 112 successes, two failures, and three partial failures.

The retirement of Ariane 5 leaves Europe temporarily without a launch vehicle capable of lifting large payloads. Its successor, Ariane 6, is not scheduled to launch until late this year or early 2024. Ariane 6 will be capable of launching 10,350 kg (22,818 pounds) into low Earth orbit.

Recent Launches

Vega-C, which can lift up to 2,200 kg (4,850 pounds), remains grounded as officials continue to investigate how it failed on its most recent flight last December.

The smaller Vega booster, which can orbit 1,500 kg (3,307 lb), is Europe’s only operational launch vehicle. Its next flight is scheduled for September.

SpaceX launched 70 Starlink broadband satellites from spaceports in Florida and California. The Falcon 9 first stage on the July 9 flight launched and landed for a record 16th time.

Launches by Nation

The number of launch attempts has passed 100, with 96 successes and six failures. The world is on course to equal or exceed the 186 launches conducted in 2022.

The United States leads the world with 56 launches, putting the nation on a pace to launch 100 times. American companies conducted 87 launches last year.

Orbital Launches by Nation

Chinese officials have spoken of launching more than 60 times this year. However, they have only managed 26 flights with the year more than half over.

Russia is in third place with nine launches, followed by India with four. Europe and Japan are tied for fifth place with two launch attempts apiece.

Launches by Company/Agency

SpaceX has accounted for 47 of 56 launches conducted by US companies this year. Falcon 9 has flown 44 times and Falcon Heavy twice without failure. The maiden flight of Starship/Super Heavy failed in April.

Rocket Lab has launched five times, and United Launch Alliance conducted the only other successful American launch this year. Three U.S. companies – ABL Space Systems, Relatively Space, and Virgin Orbit – experienced launch failures.

Launches by Company/Agency

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation leads all Chinese companies with 20 launches. Five other Chinese companies – CAS Space, ExPace, Galactic Energy, i-space, and Space Pioneer – have combined for six flights.

Rounding out the top five are Russia’s Roscosmos with seven launches and India’s ISRO with four flights.

SpaceX Launches by Payload

SpaceX’s 46 successful flights have placed nearly 1,500 payloads into space. More than half the flights – 24 – have been dedicated to placing 1,103 Starlink satellites and two secondary payloads into orbit.

SpaceX Payloads by Type
Through July 9, 2023

Thirteen launches were dedicated to placing 124 communications satellites into orbit for commercial and military customers. The majority of those payloads – 96 – were for OneWeb’s 636-satellite broadband constellation.

Three Transporter rideshare missions carried 241 payloads into orbit for commercial, government, and academic customers from around the world.

SpaceX launched the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA and the private Ax-2 mission to the orbital facility for Axiom Space. Two Cargo Dragons carried equipment and supplies to ISS as well as 12 CubeSats for deployment from the station.

Launches by Booster

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket remains the most-flown booster in the world with 44 flights. The company has conducted two successful Falcon Heavy launches and one unsuccessful Starship/Super Heavy flight.

Launches by Booster

China has launched its Long March 2C and Long March 2D rockets nine times. There have also been five launches each of Rocket Lab’s Electron booster and Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a and Soyuz-2.1b rockets.

Six launch vehicles – Chollima-1, H3, LauncherOne, RS1, Starship/Super Heavy, Terran 1, and Tianlong-2 – made their maiden flight this year. Only Tianlong-2 succeeded on its first flight.

Relativity retired the Terran 1 booster to focus work on a larger rocket. Flights of LauncherOne ended when Virgin Orbit went out of business.

Launches by Spaceport

Florida remains the busiest launch site in the world, with a combined 34 launches originating from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Vandenberg Space Force Base is in second place among American spaceports with 14 launches.

Launches by Spaceport

Rocket Lab has launched twice from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia and three times from its spaceport in New Zealand.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center leads all Chinese spaceports with 15 launches. The nation’s three other spaceports have hosted 11 launches.