Tag: Electron
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Videos: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off for first time
Rocket Lab’s Electron commercial satellite launcher lifted off from New Zealand on its debut test flight Thursday and soared into space on its maiden mission. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) launcher did not reach orbit as intended, but Rocket Lab said the Electron successfully flew through the booster’s first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and…
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Rocket Lab waits for improved weather for test flight of new commercial launcher
The Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Worsening weather at Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch facility forced officials to call off the liftoff of a new commercial satellite booster for the third straight day Tuesday. “Launch scrubbed for the day due to triboelectrification,” Rocket Lab tweeted Tuesday evening,…
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Rocket Lab’s Electron conducts inaugural flight from New Zealand
The U.S.-based Rocket Lab corporation has entered the commercial launch market with the maiden flight of its Electron rocket on Thursday morning (UTC). The small-scale launcher will cater to the small satellite market, with low-end million dollar flights and its revolutionary engine design launching from the Māhia Peninsula from the North Island of New Zealand’s…
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Rocket Lab delays debut of new launcher to dodge bad weather
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab, a company eyeing a market to launch small satellites, said Monday that bad weather at its privately-operated launch base on New Zealand’s North Island kept a commercial Electron booster from lifting off on its maiden test…
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Small satellite launcher set for first orbital test flight this week
The Electron rocket at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island during a May 16 wet dress rehearsal. Credit: Rocket Lab The first test flight of Rocket Lab’s commercially-developed Electron launcher was held up by weather Sunday, but conditions could improve for a launch attempt Monday from New Zealand…
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NASA to fly CubeSats on three new commercial launchers
File photo of a one-unit (1U) CubeSat. Credit: NASA Ames NASA announced Wednesday it is joining a chorus of companies pushing for easier access to space, awarding $17.1 million in contracts to three firms developing new launchers tailored for lifting lightweight satellites into orbit. None of the rockets have flown yet, but NASA plans to…
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Rocket Lab plans for New Zealand launch base
Artist’s concept of Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher. Credit: Rocket Lab The chief executive of Rocket Lab, a venture capital-backed space firm set up to provide dedicated launch services for microsatellites, says the company is on track to complete construction of a new orbital launch site on New Zealand’s South Island by the end of 2015.…