Upcoming Spaceflight Launches
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Vulcan | USSF-70
United Launch Alliance | United States of AmericaCape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
TBD September, 2028
Falcon Heavy | ExoMars 2028 Rosalind Franklin rover
SpaceX | United States of AmericaKennedy Space Center, FL, USA
TBD October, 2028
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:
ExoMars 2028 is a second mission of two-part European Space Agency astrobiology project to search for evidence of life on Mars. The primary objective is to land the rover at a site with high potential for finding well-preserved organic material, particularly from the very early history of the planet. The rover is expected to travel several kilometers during its mission. The European rover will be the first mission to combine the capability to move across the surface and to study Mars at depth. It will collect samples with a drill down to a depth of 2 m and analyze them with next-generation instruments in an onboard laboratory. Underground samples are more likely to include biomarkers, since the tenuous martian atmosphere offers little protection from radiation and photochemistry at the surface.
Heliocentric N/A
Epsilon S | SOLAR-C
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency | JapanUchinoura Space Center, Japan
TBD November, 2028
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:
SOLAR-C is a Japan-led international mission with the cooperation by the US and European countries. It aims to gain new insights into the fundamental physical mechanisms driving solar plasma dynamics by performing three simultaneous UV observations. The first consists to observe the broad range of temperatures, spanning over three orders of magnitude from the 10,000 Kelvin chromosphere to the million Kelvin corona, and even to the 15 million Kelvin solar flares. The second consists to resolve the elemental structures at high spatial (0.4 arcsec) and temporal (1 sec) resolution and trace their evolutions by increasing the ability to collect the solar UV rays 10 to 30 times as much as before. The third consists to conduct a high dispersion spectroscopy (equivalent to a velocity resolution of 2 km/s) to obtain spectroscopic information that enables quantitative diagnostics (such as velocity, temperature, density, ionization degree, and abundance). By combining the three observations, SOLAR-C can analyze the dynamically evolving solar atmospheres over a wide altitude range from the chromosphere to the corona while resolving elemental structures.
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Spectrum | AOS-Demo & Precursor
Isar Aerospace | GermanyAndøya Spaceport
TBD December, 2028
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:
Two satellites for the Norwegian Space Agency’s Arctic Ocean Surveillance (AOS) program. AOS-Demo will be built by thr Norwegian engineering company Eidel to demonstrate maritime monitoring technologies. AOS-Precursor will be built by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace as the first operational satellite of the system to track maritime activities in the Arctic.
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Falcon 9 Block 5 | WSF-M2 & BLAZE-2 (USSF-178)
SpaceX | United States of AmericaVandenberg SFB, CA, USA
TBD December, 2028
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:
Second Weather System Follow-on (WSF) satellite. WSF-M (Weather System Follow-on - Microwave) is the next-generation operational environmental satellite system for the Department of Defense (DoD), to replace the microwave wavelength weather forecasting capabilities of the DMSP satellites. Ball Aerospace has been selected in late November 2017 to be the prime contractor for 2 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) weather satellites with a passive microwave imaging radiometer instrument and hosted Government furnished energetic charged particle (ECP) sensor space weather payload developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The radiometer leverages the Ball-built Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument. This mission will improve weather forecasting over maritime regions by taking global measurements of the atmosphere and ocean surface. The launch will also include BLAZE-2, a launch opportunity for operational, research, development, and prototype small satellites from across the DoD.
Polar Orbit
SLS Block 1B | Artemis V
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of AmericaKennedy Space Center, FL, USA
TBD December, 2028
Vega-C Block 2 | Space Rider
Avio S.p.A | ItalyGuiana Space Centre, French Guiana
TBD December, 2028
Electron | iQPS Launch 13
Rocket Lab | United States of AmericaRocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
TBD December, 2028
Electron | iQPS Launch 12
Rocket Lab | United States of AmericaRocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
TBD December, 2028
Spectrum | SEOPS LaunchLock Prime
Isar Aerospace | GermanyAndøya Spaceport
TBD December, 2028
Long March 2F/G
Shenzhou 23
Launch Area 91 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaShenzhou 23 will be the 23rd flight of the Shenzhou program.
Starship
Flight 12
Orbital Launch Pad 2 - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3. The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate eac…
Electron
Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New ZealandSynthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 10-31
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USAA batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-42
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Vega-C
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French GuianaJoint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to investigate the interaction between Earth’s protective shield …
Long March 8
SpaceSail Polar Group #9
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…
Falcon 9
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-34
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA34th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…
Kinetica 1
5 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of ChinaShare-ride of 5 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Taijing-3-05A/B * Tianyi-50 * Tianyan-27 * Jilin-1 HR-03D-55
Zhuque-2E Block 2
Mass Simulator
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China2.8 tonnes Mass Simulator launched to a 900 km polar orbit on a test flight proving further upgrades to the ZQ-2E, including a longer 1st stage and e…
