Watch the Launch

HEAD-3A/B/C/D/E

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Communications

Low Earth Orbit Mobile Launcher Pad Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

5 commercial ship/traffic AIS tracking satellites.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Aug. 14, 2023, 6:27 a.m.

Launch success.


hitura-nobad • Aug. 12, 2023, 4:16 p.m.

delayed by 1 day


Cosmic_Penguin • Aug. 8, 2023, 9:28 a.m.

Added launch per NOTAMs; payload and launch vehicle identity extremely uncertain.


Kuaizhou

Family:
Configuration: 1A

Kuaizhou is a family of Chinese "quick-reaction" orbital launch vehicles. Flying since 2013, Kuaizhou 1 and 1A consist of three solid-fueled rocket stages, with a liquid-fueled fourth stage as part of the satellite system.

Specifications
  • Stages
    4
  • Length
    19.4 m
  • Diameter
    1.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    30.0 T
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Kuaizhou
  • Family
  • Variant
    1A
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Kuaizhou-1A
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    300.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    250.0 kg

ExPace

ExPace

(EP)

CEO: Zhang Di Founded: 2016 Successes: 25 Failures: 3 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ExPace is a Chinese space rocket company based in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of missileer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), a Chinese state-owned company, and serves as its commercial rocket division. ExPace is focused on small satellite launchers to low Earth orbit.

WIKI

Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Mobile Launcher Pad


PSLV
Deployed
1 hour, 2 minutes ago
SPADEX (Space Docking Experiment)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

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Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 12 hours ago
Astranis: From One to Many (4x Astranis MicroGEO)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Four Astranis MicroGEO communications satellite to be inserted in a custom geostationary orbit, from where they conduct on-orbit maneuvers to reach t…


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 15 hours ago
Starlink Group 11-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Failure
3 days, 16 hours ago
DEAR-3 & 10 other satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Launched 11 satellites including AZSPACE's DEAR-3 prototype recoverable science experiment spacecraft and the French CASAA-Sat cubesat from the Marse…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
5 days, 9 hours ago
Resurs-P No.5
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Resurs-P is a series of Russian commercial Earth observation satellites capable of acquiring high-resolution imagery (resolution up to 1.0 m).


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 12-2
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.