What is the longest period of consecutive daily space launches?

Question

What is the largest number of days with at least one space launch every day?

Also what is the largest number of days with at least a launch per day on average? For example two launches yesterday and no launch today then another launch(es) etc. In other words: the maximum value of N with N launches in N days.

Related questions:

• What was the most busy week in space launches?
• Most busy times in US space launches?
• Largest gap between two consecutive space launches?

Answer 1

Longest Period of Consecutive Daily Space Launches

There were seven consecutive launches between 1977-12-10 and 1977-12-16.

╔═════════════╦═════════════╦════════════╦═══════════════════╗
║ LAUNCH_DATE ║ FLIGHT_ID1  ║ FLIGHT_ID2 ║      MISSION      ║
╠═════════════╬═════════════╬════════════╬═══════════════════╣
║ 1977-12-10  ║ D 15000-093 ║ Soyuz-26   ║ Soyuz 7K-T No. 43 ║
║ 1977-12-11  ║ 5504A       ║ OPS 4258   ║ AQUACADE 3        ║
║ 1977-12-12  ║ 78018  -105 ║ Kosmos-966 ║ Zenit-2M          ║
║ 1977-12-13  ║ 53716-332   ║ Kosmos-967 ║ Lira              ║
║ 1977-12-14  ║ 78018  -305 ║ Meteor-2   ║ Meteor-2 No. 3    ║
║ 1977-12-15  ║ 624/D137    ║ CS         ║ CS                ║
║ 1977-12-16  ║ 53746-305   ║ Kosmos-968 ║ Strela-2M         ║
╚═════════════╩═════════════╩════════════╩═══════════════════╝

Longest Period Where Rolling Average Launches >= 1

There are seven nine-day stretches that averaged one or more launch per day.

╔═══════════════════╦══════════════════╗
║ FIRST_LAUNCH_DATE ║ LAST_LAUNCH_DATE ║
╠═══════════════════╬══════════════════╣
║ 1970-12-10        ║ 1970-12-18       ║
║ 1976-07-21        ║ 1976-07-29       ║
║ 1977-06-16        ║ 1977-06-24       ║
║ 1977-09-16        ║ 1977-09-24       ║
║ 1977-12-08        ║ 1977-12-16       ║
║ 1984-06-21        ║ 1984-06-29       ║
║ 1993-03-25        ║ 1993-04-02       ║
╚═══════════════════╩══════════════════╝

For example, here are details for one of the periods:

╔═════════════╦═════════════╦═════════════╦═════════════════════════╗
║ LAUNCH_DATE ║ FLIGHT_ID1  ║ FLIGHT_ID2  ║         MISSION         ║
╠═════════════╬═════════════╬═════════════╬═════════════════════════╣
║ 1970-12-10  ║ Yu15002-031 ║ Kosmos-384  ║ Zenit-2M                ║
║ 1970-12-11  ║ 546/D81     ║ NOAA 1      ║ ITOS A                  ║
║ 1970-12-12  ║ No. 2       ║ Peole       ║ Peole                   ║
║ 1970-12-12  ║ S175C       ║ Explorer 42 ║ SAS A                   ║
║ 1970-12-12  ║ V149-39LM   ║ Kosmos-385  ║ Tsiklon                 ║
║ 1970-12-15  ║ Kh76002-051 ║ Kosmos-386  ║ Zenit-4M                ║
║ 1970-12-16  ║ V149-31LM   ║ Kosmos-387  ║ Tselina-OM              ║
║ 1970-12-18  ║ R 15000-006 ║ Kosmos-389  ║ Tselina-D No. Yu2250-01 ║
║ 1970-12-18  ║ Yu457-29    ║ Kosmos-388  ║ DS-P1-Yu No. 43         ║
╚═════════════╩═════════════╩═════════════╩═════════════════════════╝

Disclaimers and Queries

The results are from a SQL database built from the JSR Launch Vehicle Database, as described here. For "space launches", I assume you mean successful orbital and deep space launches.

Below are the Oracle queries I used to generate the data.

--Maximum consecutive days with a launch.
--
--For each group, find the difference between the first and last day to get consecutive days.
select launch_day, group_id
    ,max(launch_day) over (partition by group_id) - min(launch_day) over (partition by group_id) + 1 consecutive_days
from
(
    --Create a group id based on the launch date.
    select launch_day, launch_day - row_number() over (order by launch_day) group_id
    from
    (
        --Distinct days with a launch. Convert days to numbers.
        select distinct(to_number(to_char(launch_date, 'YYYYMMDD'))) launch_day
        from launch
        where launch_status = 'success'
            and launch_category in ('deep space', 'orbital')
        order by launch_day
    )
)
order by consecutive_days desc, launch_day;

--Details on consecutive launches.
select to_char(launch_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD') launch_date, flight_id1, flight_id2, mission
from launch
where launch_status = 'success'
    and launch_category in ('deep space', 'orbital')
    and trunc(launch_date) between date '1977-12-10' and date '1977-12-16'
order by 1,2;


--Maximum rolling average.
select
    to_char(launch_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD') first_launch_date,
    to_char(launch_date+8, 'YYYY-MM-DD') last_launch_date,
    --Keep increasing this number until it doesn't reach 1, and that's the largest average.
    avg(launch_count) over (order by launch_date rows between current row and 8 following) rolling_average
from
(
    --All possible days with launch count.
    select days.launch_date, nvl(launch_count, 0) launch_count
    from
    (
        --Calendar of all possible launches from first to last.
        select date '1957-10-04' + level - 1 launch_date
        from dual
        connect by level <=
            (
                select max(trunc(launch_date)) - min(trunc(launch_date)) + 1
                from launch
                where launch_status = 'success'
                    and launch_category in ('deep space', 'orbital')
            )
        order by launch_date desc
    ) days
    left join
    (
        --Launches per day.
        select trunc(launch_date) launch_date, count(*) launch_count
        from launch
        where launch_status = 'success'
            and launch_category in ('deep space', 'orbital')
        group by trunc(launch_date)
        order by launch_date
    ) launches
        on days.launch_date = launches.launch_date
    order by days.launch_date
)
where launch_date <> date '2017-08-26'
order by rolling_average desc, launch_date;

--Details on maximum rolling average launches.
select to_char(launch_date, 'YYYY-MM-DD') launch_date, flight_id1, flight_id2, mission
from launch
where launch_status = 'success'
    and launch_category in ('deep space', 'orbital')
    --and trunc(launch_date) between date '1970-12-10' and date '1970-12-20'
    and trunc(launch_date) between date '1976-07-21' and date '1976-07-29'
order by 1,2;