On Saturday, December 21, 2024, billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully completed the Bandwagon-2 satellite rideshare launch mission using the Falcon 9 rocket. They placed 30 satellites into the designated sun-synchronous orbit.
The Bandwagon series missions by SpaceX aim to collectively launch small satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. This launch on Saturday marked the second mission of the Bandwagon series, following the first mission in April of the same year when 11 satellites were launched.
According to Space News, the Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:34 a.m. local time on Saturday, executing the Bandwagon-2 mission. The first stage of Falcon 9 returned to the launch site 8 minutes and 15 seconds after liftoff, while the second stage completed its burn.
The satellites carried on the Bandwagon-2 mission include military reconnaissance satellites from South Korea and satellites from other customers such as Arrow Science and Technology, Exolaunch, HawkEye 360, Maverick Space Systems, Sidus Space, Tomorrow Companies Inc., True Anomaly, and Think Orbital.
SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell, stated that this launch was the 130th for the Falcon rocket in 2024, surpassing the 96 launches in 2023. SpaceX plans to carry out several more launches before the end of the year, including the Starlink satellite launch scheduled for Monday, December 23. The Falcon 9 rocket will carry 21 Starlink satellites in this upcoming launch.
Shotwell mentioned at an event on December 17 that SpaceX anticipates reaching 136 launches in 2024 and aims to increase the goal to 175 or 180 launches in 2025, continuously pushing the boundaries.
Apart from the Bandwagon missions, SpaceX also conducts Transporter series satellite rideshare missions where satellites are launched into high-inclination orbits, unlike the Bandwagon missions that target sun-synchronous orbits.
To date, SpaceX has completed 11 Transporter launch missions. The first one took place in January 2021, sending 143 satellites into the designated orbit, a record that still stands.
SpaceX stated that the demand for sun-synchronous orbit missions is substantial, with plans for two Bandwagon missions this year and two more next year, illustrating the company’s commitment to meeting customer needs.