SpaceX Successfully Launches the Bandwagon-2 Mission with 30 Satellites Onboard

On December 21, 2024, SpaceX launched the Bandwagon-2 rideshare mission in Low Earth Orbit. Lifting off at 11:34 UTC from the Vandenberg Space Force Base SLC-4E in California, the Falcon 9 rocket had a successful stage separation two minutes later.

The first stage then performed a Return to Launch Site, to the LZ-4 landing zone. Then the second stage proceeded onto a mid-inclination orbit as planned, to gradually deploy the payloads. SpaceX’s live stream of the launch concluded shortly after SECO-1, likely at the request of the customers.

The B1071 booster, previously supported 21 launches, between NROL, rideshare, and Starlink missions.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/mYaDi1i4uK

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 21, 2024

Today’s mission marks SpaceX’s second mission of this kind, aiming to provide a key launch service for customers looking to deploy payloads into low Earth orbits at a 45-degree inclination. Bandwagon follows the same rideshare model as the Transporter missions, which are instead dedicated to sun-synchronous polar orbits.

Bandwagon-2 carried a total of 30 payloads for different companies and international institutions. Two of the main customers on this flight were the South Korean government and Exolaunch, which provided deployment services to its customers.

A Korean security constellation

One main payload for this flight was satellite number 3 for the South Korean Government’s “425 Project”. It consists of a secretive array of satellites for surveillance and observation for South Korea’s security and defense needs. With development starting in 2014, the satellites are currently being launched.

The first satellite, with an Optical/Infrared sensor, was launched in December of 2023. Other satellites are radar-equipped, number 2 was launched in April of 2024.

The constellation is being built for the Korean Agency for Defense and Development, by the Korean Aerospace Industries, the Hanwha Systems Corporation, and Thales Alenia Space.

The European company is supplying the Synthetic Aperture Radar technology and avionic Gyroscope systems necessary to have precise observations. Hanwha Systems locally produces the main body of the satellites. The project will be using multiple satellites in tandem, to combine the single deployable SAR antennas for better resolution, aiming at 30-50 cm/px resolutions.

A total of five SAR satellites are planned, with the remaining two in different stages of production, aiming to be launched by 2025, aboard other Falcon 9 missions. The SAR component of the “425 Project” constellation will help maintain an edge thanks to its great capabilities with weather and adverse conditions.

South Korea is already developing a successor to this constellation with an additional 12 satellites over the next years.

Exolaunch provides payload support for 22 satellites

The Bandwagon-2 mission features an increased payload presence for Exolaunch. The company will help deploy and manage 22 different satellites, including 15 cubesats and 7 microsatellites.

This isn’t the first time Exolaunch is launching satellites through SpaceX’s rideshare missions. The German-based company took part aboard all of the Transporter launches, delivering more than 300 satellites. For this mission, CarboNIX, EXOpod Nova, and EXOport flight-proven technologies were fitted on the Falcon payload adapter, to ensure a smooth deployment of all customers’ payloads.

Exolaunch’s expertise is growing, making sure to help customers in payload deployment and mission coordination. Their services are expanding to encompass various aspects of mission management, and therefore proving great value to the increasing number of companies wanting to venture in the new Space Economy that is currently blooming.

^{Cover image credits: SpaceX via Twitter/X}