Rocket Lab achieves orbit on historic launch from New Zealand

[BjarneModerator Super Nova]

Video: Rocket Lab achieves orbit on historic launch from New Zealand

January 21, 2018 | Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket took off from a picturesque commercial launch base in New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, on a test flight that delivered three CubeSats into orbit on the company’s first successful satellite deployment.

The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, a spit of land on New Zealand’s North Island, at 8:43 p.m. EST Saturday (0143 GMT; 2:43 p.m. New Zealand time Sunday).

Nine Rutherford main engines consuming kerosene fuel through battery-powered turbopumps powered the rocket on a southerly trajectory, through a thin layer of clouds, and into the stratosphere, before an upper stage engine took over to give the rocket enough speed to reach orbit around Earth.

It was the second test flight of Rocket Lab’s commercially-developed Electron booster, which is sized to haul up to 330 pounds (150 kilograms) into sun-synchronous orbit 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth. Rocket Lab says the rocket fills a niche in the commercial launch market underserved by other satellite boosters.

 

[BjarneModerator Super Nova]

Rocket Lab’s commercial launcher reaches orbit for the first time

Spire Global, the owner of the two CubeSats carried into space today, says its payloads successfully deployed as planned from the Electron second stage.

 

Just got a couple of incredible images from our friends at @RocketLab. Welcome to space, LEMUR2-TALLHAMN-ATC and LEMUR2-MARSHALL! Good clean deployment – a great to start to their many orbits of data collection! pic.twitter.com/40PJWQJERp

— Spire (@SpireGlobal) January 21, 2018

[BjarneModerator Super Nova]

Rocket Lab successfully reaches orbit and deploys payloads

Huntington Beach, California and Auckland, New Zealand January 21 2018:

Rocket Lab has successfully reached orbit with the test flight of its second Electron orbital launch vehicle, Still Testing. Electron lifted-off at 14:43 NZDT from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.

Following successful first and second stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and 31 seconds after lift-off.

“Today marks the beginning of a new era in commercial access to space. We’re thrilled to reach this milestone so quickly after our first test launch,” says Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck. “Our incredibly dedicated and talented team have worked tirelessly to develop, build and launch Electron. I’m immensely proud of what they have achieved today.”

“Reaching orbit on a second test flight is significant on its own, but successfully deploying customer payloads so early in a new rocket program is almost unprecedented. Rocket Lab was founded on the principal of opening access to space to better understand our planet and improve life on it. Today we took a significant step towards that,” he says.

In the coming weeks Rocket Lab engineers will analyse the data from today’s launch to inform future launches. Rocket Lab currently has five Electron vehicles in production, with the next launch expected to take place in early 2018.  At full production, Rocket Lab expects to launch more than 50 times a year, and is regulated to launch up to 120 times a year, more than any other commercial or government launch provider in history.

Still Testing was carrying a Dove Pioneer Earth-imaging satellite for launch customer Planet, as well as two Lemur-2 satellites for weather and ship tracking company Spire.

Rocket Lab’s commercial phase will see Electron fly already-signed customers including NASA, Spire, Planet, Moon Express and Spaceflight.

 

[Forfatter]

Indlæg