Tag: New Zealand
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Amid shuffling schedules, Capella to fly its first commercial satellite with Rocket Lab
Artist’s concept of a Capella synthetic aperture radar satellite. Credit: Capella Space After switching rockets two times due to launch delays, Capella Space is set to launch the first spacecraft in a constellation of commercial radar reconnaissance satellites from New Zealand Sunday on a Rocket Lab Electron booster. The small radar satellite, named Sequoia, is…
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Rocket Lab’s 12th launch sends satellites into space for NRO, NASA and Australia
Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron rocket lofted a bevy of small satellites into orbit tonight for the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and a project backed by the Australian government and the University of New South Wales Canberra Space. Liftoff from Rocket Lab’s oceanside launch complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula came at 5:12 p.m. local time…
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Rocket Lab reports recovery test success
Aiming for reusability, Rocket Lab has demonstrated the mid-air recovery of a booster test article in a key test before rigging the first stage of the company’s Electron launcher with a parachute on missions beginning later this year. The company said the test in early March showed Rocket Lab’s concept of catching a descending Electron…
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Rocket Lab successfully launches NRO satellite
A Rocket Lab Electron launcher lifted off from the company’s privately-owned launch site in New Zealand at 9:56 p.m. EST Thursday (0256 GMT; 3:56 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday) with the NROL-151 payload for the U.S. government’s National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Rocket Lab A light-class Electron launcher built and owned by Rocket Lab fired…
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Rocket Lab launches secret payload from New Zealand for U.S. spy satellite agency
After waiting out high winds, Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron rocket launched a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from New Zealand, halfway around the world from the U.S. spy satellite agency’s headquarters. Liftoff for the “Birds of a Feather” mission took place at 6:56 p.m. PT today (3:56 p.m. local time Friday), nearly three…
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Rocket Lab begins construction of a second launch pad at its New Zealand complex
An artist’s conception shows Rocket Lab’s Pad 1-B at the upper corner of its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab Illustration) Just days after officially opening its Virginia launch pad, Rocket Lab announced today that it has started construction of yet another pad at its original New Zealand home base. The new pad,…
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Rocket Lab launches Japanese satellite that’s designed to spit out shooting stars for Olympics
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from its New Zealand launch pad today, sending a shooting-star satellite and six other miniaturized satellites into orbit. Japan’s ALE-2 satellite is designed to drop bunches of chemical pellets into the atmosphere from orbit, producing fiery streaks of glowing plasma that look like meteor showers. The “Sky Canvas” mission,…
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Rocket Lab to begin booster recovery experiments later this year
Rocket Lab’s next launch from New Zealand, set for Friday, will carry a data recorder to measure the aerothermal environments encountered by the Electron launcher’s first stage during descent back into the atmosphere, information engineers say is crucial to successfully achieving the company’s newly-announced plan to recover and reuse the booster. The U.S.-New Zealand…
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Rocket Lab launches seven small satellites from New Zealand for Seattle’s Spaceflight
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from the company’s launch pad on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab executed a picture-perfect first launch for Seattle’s Spaceflight Inc., putting BlackSky’s Global-3 Earth-observing satellite and six other small spacecraft into orbit from its New Zealand launch pad. The Los Angeles-based launch company nicknamed…
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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket launches 3 U.S. military satellites from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from its New Zealand pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a trio of research satellites for the U.S. military into orbit tonight from a launch pad that’s thousands of miles from America’s shores, in New Zealand. The Los Angeles-based company’s low-cost Electron rocket lifted off from…