22 SpaceX successfully launched the third mission of a specialized series of medium-inclination orbit launches called Bandwagon-3 on April. However, this time the number of satellites on board was extremely small - only three, which raises questions about the demand for this type of orbit.
The launch took place Fr. 00:48 UTC from the SLC-40 site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Falcon rocket 9, which was used for the third time, successfully landed on a nearby landing pad.
What flew from Bandwagon-3?
425Sat-3 is a satellite for the South Korean military (within the project Project 425)
Tomorrow-S7 is a weather satellite of the Tomorrow.io company
Phoenix is the first re-entry vehicle from the German start-up ATMOS Space Cargo
This is a very minor download compared to previous flights:
Bandwagon-1 (April 2024) – 11 satellites
Bandwagon-2 (December 2024) – 30 satellites
SpaceX has not publicly explained such a small amount of cargo, but industry sources point to low demand for medium-inclination orbits and too high a pace of launches (everything 4 months between Bandwagon-2 and -3), which led to this result.
Why is the project important? 425?
All Bandwagon launches are tied to a multi-launch contract with the South Korean military, which deploys a constellation of reconnaissance satellites. Bandwagon-3 is the third mission of this series, and the fourth, scheduled for the end 2025 year, probably, then the last satellite will be delivered.
Source: https://spacenews.com/spacex-launches-third-mid-inclination-rideshare-mission/