“Reusability is a tool, not a rule.” That credo was put to full use this week as SpaceX readied its first expendable Falcon 9 launch since January, launching booster B1076 on its 22nd and last flight to carry the SPAINSAT NG II communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The mission’s performance requirements called for the clipping of landing legs and grid fins, a welcome change of pace from the company’s signature recovery efforts.
B1076’s retirement marks the end of a virtually three-year career which started with the CRS-26 cargo mission to the International Space Station in November 2022 and featured launches for OneWeb, 03b mPOWER, Intelsat, Eutelsat, Turksat, and WorldView Legion. Though the vast majority of Falcon 9 boosters are now flying far exceeding their initial 10-flight design goal through strenuous inspection, endurance refurbishment, and recertification to as many as 20 missions some high-energy payloads still require consuming the first stage to achieve maximum velocity and payload mass to orbit.
SPAINSAT NG II, manufactured by Airbus for Hisdesat, is Spain’s biggest military communications investment to date. The satellite increases X- and Ka-band capacity by 16 times that of its predecessors and introduces UHF capability for secure tactical links. Specified for a 15-year lifespan in geostationary orbit, it joins SPAINSAT NG I, launched earlier this year, to offer robust coverage for government and defense users.
In addition to this disposable milestone, SpaceX maintains its fast-paced cadence of Starlink launches. SpaceX has now deployed more than 10,000 Starlink satellites, including 7,455 that are currently in operational orbit. Recent flights have been pushing payload boundaries, with 29 v2 Mini satellites on a single Falcon 9 each around 800 kilograms and with argon Hall thrusters providing 2.4× the thrust and 1.5× the specific impulse of previous krypton systems. These satellites also incorporate improved phased array antennas and E-band backhaul to virtually quadruple network capacity.
The v2 Mini is a bridge step en route to much larger V3 Starlink satellites, which will demand Starship’s lift capacity to launch 1,000 Gbps downlink units at more than two metric tons of weight. Each V3 launch will contribute 20 times the capacity of a Falcon 9 v2 Mini mission, highlighting the scope of SpaceX’s broadband plans.
Globally, China’s Chang Zheng 5 heavy-lift rocket is coming back to flight from Wenchang with an unnamed payload, presumably as part of the secretive Tongxin Jishi Shiyan communications series. The CZ-5’s core stage features two YF-77 cryogenic engines firing liquid hydrogen and oxygen, bracketed by four strap-on boosters each fired by twin YF-100 kerolox engines. Its upper stage features two restartable YF-75D hydrogen engines, which allow for accurate orbital insertions of large payloads. Designed to lift 14 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit or 25 metric tons to low Earth orbit in CZ-5B configuration, the rocket has been at the core of China’s Chang’e lunar program, Tianwen-1 Mars mission, Tiangong space station construction, and launching of Guowang megaconstellation satellites.
China Satnet’s Guowang project seeks to launch almost 13,000 low Earth orbit broadband satellites by 2032, half of which are needed according to ITU regulations by then. This will require a sudden acceleration of launch rate, tapping CZ-5 and the new reusable Long March 12A, as well as commercial medium-lift vehicles. Guowang’s strategic purpose will be similar to that of Starlink in exercising national control over satellite internet infrastructure, with impacts on global connectivity markets and space traffic management.
For SpaceX, the contrast of an expendable Falcon 9 mission with frequent high-rate Starlink flights underscores fleet operating flexibility. Reusability is still the foundation of its economics reducing internal launch prices to below $30 million per mission but the firm continues to vary mission profiles to payload requirements, be that extracting maximum performance from a booster’s final flight or launching record quantities of satellites into low Earth orbit.
