NVS-03 reaches orbit: Orbital Briefing, 31 October 2026

India has successfully launched NVS-03, adding a next-generation spacecraft to its satellite navigation programme. The mission, also designated IRNSS-1L, gives this Saturday’s briefing a navigation focus alongside continuing communications launches and orbital safety monitoring.

India’s GSLV Mk II launched IRNSS-1L (NVS-03) successfully at 18:21 UTC on 30 October 2026, according to Orbital Radar tracking data. Reaching orbit is a launch milestone rather than confirmation that a navigation satellite is ready for operational service: commissioning involves checking the spacecraft and its navigation payload. The Orbital Radar Launch Schedule records the mission’s successful launch status.

Starlink grows as Falcon 9 reaches a milestone

SpaceX has launched another 27 Starlink satellites from California, while reporting around its Halloween-eve activity identifies the company’s 700th Falcon 9 launch. That launch tally measures flights, not the number of satellites delivered: a single rocket can carry many spacecraft, and deployment does not immediately mean operational service.

Starlink had 9,980 operational satellites on 31 October 2026, according to Orbital Radar tracking data. A further 982 were raising their orbits and 200 were deorbiting, illustrating the continuous movement between deployment, service and disposal. The Orbital Radar Starlink Tracker offers a way to follow the constellation, with those different stages important context when interpreting its size.

Close approaches need context

Orbital Radar tracking data listed 19 active close approaches on 31 October 2026. Among the encounters being monitored are TIANHUI 5A and TIANHUI 5B, with a minimum separation of about 1.35 km, and ICEYE-X83 and OBJECT CL, at about 1.65 km. SUPERVIEW NEO-2 05 and SUPERVIEW NEO-2 06 also appear, with a minimum separation of about 1.95 km.

A close approach is not itself a collision warning: assessing risk also requires the uncertainty in each object’s predicted position and the geometry of the encounter. The Orbital Radar space situational awareness toolkit puts such encounters in their wider monitoring context. Space weather is comparatively quiet, with Kp, a measure of global geomagnetic disturbance, at 0 and low-Earth-orbit risk indicators marked green.

What to Watch

Rocket Lab’s Electron mission The Sea God Surveys, also called iQPS Launch 9, is listed for 2 November at 16:00 UTC, with its timing still to be confirmed. Its destination is low Earth orbit. On 3 November, Kinetica 2 is scheduled to carry a SpaceSail polar group at 00:10 UTC, followed by Falcon 9’s USSF-432 mission at 01:42 UTC; both are marked go for launch.

Beyond the launch pads, Hera has distinguished its asteroid targets separately for the first time, a useful development for following the probe’s approach to the pair. Readers can explore asteroid orbits and close approaches through Orbital Radar’s Near-Earth Objects page, while the launch schedule remains the place to follow changes to the coming week’s departures.