Latest Developments<\/p>\n
SpaceX closed out October 1 with a midnight Falcon Heavy<\/a> launch from Kennedy Space Center, carrying the classified NROL-97 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission was the NRO\u2019s first on Falcon Heavy after 22 flights on Falcon 9<\/a>, and the first NRO launch purchased through the NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 contract awarded in 2025. The two side boosters landed at Cape Canaveral, completing a four-booster-landing day for SpaceX, a single-day record. Separately, Rocket Lab signed its largest Electron<\/a> launch contract to date: a 20-mission agreement with Japan\u2019s Synspective, extending a partnership that has already put 13 StriX radar satellites into orbit since 2020.<\/p>\n Space Safety<\/p>\n Two Starlink-involved conjunctions appear in the current SOCRATES top-probability list, but both carry suspect upstream data (physically implausible miss distances or stale TLEs) and should not be treated as credible collision risks at this time. On the reentry<\/a> side, nine Starlink satellites are actively tracked with predicted atmospheric reentry windows, consistent with SpaceX\u2019s routine practice of deorbiting end-of-life vehicles from their low-deployment orbits.<\/p>\n Risk HIGH HIGH Satellite STARLINK-1797<\/a> STARLINK-4390<\/a> STARLINK-1433<\/a> STARLINK-1856<\/a> STARLINK-4386<\/a> STARLINK-31495<\/a> STARLINK-1278<\/a> STARLINK-1672<\/a> STARLINK-4408<\/a> Detailed Coverage Falcon Heavy lifted off from LC-39A at 11:54 p.m. ET on October 1, carrying NROL-97 to a high-energy orbit. Side boosters B1104 (second flight) and B1072 (fourth flight) landed at LZ-1 and LZ-2 at Cape Canaveral, both having last flown on August 30 for NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launch. That 32-day gap makes NROL-97 the quickest turnaround between Falcon Heavy missions to date. Center core B1106, flying for the first time, was expended, and the payload fairing was reused from July\u2019s NROL-95 mission.<\/p>\n The two landings brought SpaceX\u2019s single-day booster recovery total to four, a company first. Earlier on October 1, Falcon 9 booster B1101 landed after a separate mission, and a third Falcon 9 booster touched down as well. As covered in our earlier coverage<\/a>, the day also included multiple Falcon 9 flights, making it one of SpaceX\u2019s busiest operational days ever.<\/p>\n Read the full story: Teslarati<\/a><\/p>\n Rocket Lab Locks In 20-Mission Synspective Deal<\/p>\n Rocket Lab signed its largest Electron launch service agreement to date, a 20-mission contract with Synspective to continue deploying the Japanese company\u2019s StriX synthetic aperture radar constellation. Synspective has been one of Electron\u2019s steadiest customers, with 13 StriX satellites launched since 2020, including the most recent on September 25. The deal solidifies Rocket Lab\u2019s position in the dedicated small-sat launch market, where customers pay a premium for orbit-specific timing and parameters rather than ridesharing on a larger vehicle.<\/p>\n The same Ars Technica Rocket Report also noted that Starship<\/a> Flight 14 earlier in the week delivered the first 26 Starlink V3 satellites to orbit, as we covered in our earlier coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read the full story: Ars Technica<\/a><\/p>\n Constellation Status<\/p>\n One satellite left the working constellation since the last update, dropping the active count to 11,142 out of 11,156 in orbit. The decayed total ticked up by one to 1,832. SpaceX has launched 12,988 Starlink satellites to date.<\/p>\n Total Launched: 12988 Track Starlink satellites in real-time: Track Starlink<\/a><\/p>\n
\nStarlink Sat
\nOther Object
\nStatus
\nMin Range (km)
\nRel Speed (km\/s)
\nMax Prob
\nTime of Closest Approach<\/p>\n
\nSTARLINK-3259<\/a>
\nSTARLINK-37703
\nOperational
\n0.018
\n11.012
\n1 (suspect)
\nOct 7, 04:17 UTC<\/p>\n
\nSTARLINK-5756<\/a>
\nSTARLINK-30171
\nOperational
\n0.018
\n1.349
\n1 (suspect)
\nOct 7, 04:07 UTC<\/p>\n
\nNORAD ID
\nPredicted Decay
\nWindow (min)
\nInclination
\nLat
\nLon<\/p>\n
\n46698
\nOct 3, 19:45 UTC
\n600
\n53\u00b0
\n11.7\u00b0
\n116.3\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n53653
\nOct 4, 12:28 UTC
\n540
\n97.6\u00b0
\n4.8\u00b0
\n331.2\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n45711
\nOct 5, 08:21 UTC
\n1080
\n53\u00b0
\n-9.1\u00b0
\n103.4\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n47143
\nOct 5, 13:04 UTC
\n840
\n53\u00b0
\n-29.6\u00b0
\n305.9\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n53649
\nOct 5, 15:54 UTC
\n840
\n97.6\u00b0
\n-54\u00b0
\n292\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n59313
\nOct 6, 04:53 UTC
\n1020
\n43\u00b0
\n0.2\u00b0
\n184.9\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n45408
\nOct 6, 10:17 UTC
\n1080
\n53\u00b0
\n11.8\u00b0
\n161\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n46537
\nOct 6, 18:10 UTC
\n1140
\n53\u00b0
\n44.6\u00b0
\n18.9\u00b0<\/p>\n
\n53206
\nOct 6, 20:05 UTC
\n1080
\n97.3\u00b0
\n24.5\u00b0
\n22.5\u00b0<\/p>\n
\nFalcon Heavy\u2019s First NRO Mission Caps a Four-Landing Day<\/p>\n
\nTotal On Orbit: 11156
\nTotal Working: 11142<\/p>\n