SpaceX completed its final mission of the year on Dec. 16 with the successful launch of JCSAT-18/Kacific1 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was the company’s 13th launch of 2019, SpaceX’s lowest yearly launch total since 2016. However, the Falcon manifest for 2020 promises to be far busier.

The slump in launches this year was a result of two major factors. Firstly, SpaceX was no longer grinding through a backlog caused by two anomalies in 2015 and 2016. Commercial launch contracts for geostationary communications satellites have also stagnated.

2020 will be a different story, with SpaceX set to smash their previous record of launches in a year, 21, which was set in 2018. The expected increase is due to Starlink, the launch provider’s new internet constellation. SpaceX is planning to launch a batch of Starlink satellites every two weeks, which would amount to approximately 24 launches on top of their existing contracted missions.

This could see SpaceX’s 2020 launch total reach at least the mid-30’s.

The fast pace of Starlink deployments will allow SpaceX to rapidly expand its coverage area. Numerous other companies including OneWeb, Amazon, and Telesat are working on their own competing constellations – making it critical for SpaceX to bring Starlink to market as quickly as possible.

SpaceX is currently slated to begin their 2020 manifest with their third batch of Starlink satellites on Jan. 3 at 22:24 local time (Jan. 4 3:24 UTC). The launch will occur from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., where SpaceX is expected to launch the large majority of their Starlink missions.

The launch will be the fourth flight of the first stage booster B1049, which will become SpaceX’s second booster to fly for the fourth time.

The fourth batch of Starlink satellites is then scheduled for mid-January, with SpaceX looking to quickly turnaround the SLC-40 launch pad.

Meanwhile, the company is currently targeting no earlier than Jan. 11 for the launch of Crew Dragon’s Inflight Abort Test from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight will see Crew Dragon demonstrate its abort capabilities from a Falcon 9 launch vehicle at the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure on the launch vehicle.

The flight is the largest remaining hurdle before SpaceX is ready to fly crew for the first time.

SpaceX has already achieved its goal of conducting ten consecutive successful parachute drop tests of Crew Dragon’s upgraded parachutes in the final months of 2019, likely paving the way for parachute qualification in the near future.

Parachute qualification has been one of the largest remaining open items before crewed flight.

SpaceX’s first crewed mission – called Demo 2 – will see NASA Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley launch to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon. That mission is currently scheduled for the first quarter of 2020, and while additional slips are likely, it is understood to have a decent chance of occurring in the first half of the year.

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Another notable mission in the first half of 2020 will be the SAOCOM 1B Earth observation satellite, currently scheduled for launch in March. SAOCOM 1B will join SAOCOM 1A, which was launched by a Falcon 9 in October, 2018 for the Argentinian space agency, CONAE. The 1A satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California – the typical launch site for missions to sun-synchronous orbits.

SAOCOM 1B, however, will launch from Florida – making it the first launch requiring a flight path over Cuba since the 1960s. Such flights were discontinued after one flight in 1960 allegedly killed a cow when its Thor rocket experienced a failure over Cuba.

Modern safety tools including the Automated Flight Termination System (AFTS) have caused the 45th Space Wing to once again permit launches along such a flight path.

SpaceX appears to be the first company to have taken the 45th Space Wing up on this offer with SAOCOM 1B. The launch is expected to feature a return to launch site landing.

The move of SAOCOM 1B from the west coast to the east coast will continue the gap in Vandenberg-based launches from SpaceX. The launch provider’s last Vandenberg-based mission was the RADARSAT Constellation Mission last June.

SpaceX’s next Vandenberg mission is not expected until the second half of 2020. SpaceX is expected to launch the Sentinel 6A spacecraft for NASA and its first dedicated rideshare mission in the later portions of the year.

SpaceX’s new rideshare program allows for smallsat customers to purchase 200 kilograms of payload mass for only a million dollars.

A launch of a German defense mission was also originally manifested for 2020 from the west coast, but an updated timeframe for those missions has not recently been provided.

Due to most of SpaceX’s 2020 manifest being launched out of the east coast, the launch provider recently moved their west coast-based droneship, Just Read the Instructions, to Florida to support the higher cadence from the Starlink missions.

The remaining Vandenberg missions are expected to be able to perform a return to launch site landing at Landing Zone 4, which is adjacent to SpaceX’s SLC-4E launch pad.

Another notable launch in 2020 will be the next flight of Falcon Heavy. That event is not anticipated until the final months of the year under an Air Force mission known as AFSPC-44. The classified spacecraft is expected to be launched atop a brand new rocket, per Air Force requirements.

The most recent Falcon Heavy launch occurred in June 2019, meaning that Falcon Heavy will go well over a year between flights.

While SpaceX will not be able to fly flight-proven boosters on the upcoming Falcon Heavy mission, the large majority of the company’s upcoming manifest will feature reused boosters.

Currently, B1048 has flown the most out of any SpaceX booster with four flights under its belt. B1048 is expected to make its fifth flight during a Starlink mission in the first quarter of the year. B1049 is also expected to fly for a fifth time after its mission in early January.

It remains to be seen how many times SpaceX will reuse a single booster in 2020, but the company is set to break numerous reusability records.