The question is pretty self-explanatory. I have set up my factory in such way that it automatically creates a rocket and stuff a satellite in it. However, I still need to press the Launch button manually.
The wiki page has no information on this specific detail, but on the forums I have found at least one mod which leads me to believe it is not possible.
So is it possible to automate launching a rocket in vanilla Factorio? Part of your answer should describe how so I can verify it.
As of the current stable release (version 0.14.23), this is not possible without the use of mods.
There appear to be a few mods which can do this - Launch Control and Auto Launch. However I have not used either of these.
In the latest experimental releases (version 0.15.xx), a new option "auto-launch with satellite" has been added to the rocket silo, as described in this developer blog.
The rocket silo now has an auto-launch checkbox so you can launch them automatically, and the launch is only going to happen when you insert satellite.
The latest version 0.15 builds are publicly available as "experimental" releases, which you can download from the website (if you bought the game there), or by opting into Factorio beta releases on Steam (further details on how to do that here).
At the time of writing there is no word from the developers on when version 0.15 will be moved into the stable release branch.
Yes, as of version 0.15 it is possible. See from the release page here
Release notes include:
•Added the ability to auto-launch the rocket.
