Tag: New Zealand
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Rocket Lab launches DARPA’s R3D2 experimental satellite from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from its New Zealand launch pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab executed its first launch of the year from New Zealand today, sending an experimental satellite into orbit for the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The company’s Electron launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on…
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Rocket Lab sends 13 miniature satellites into orbit from New Zealand for NASA
Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab has sent its first payloads for NASA into orbit from its New Zealand launch pad, atop a low-cost Electron rocket powered by 3-D-printed engines. Liftoff from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula came at…
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Rocket Lab reports $140M in fresh funding, cementing space unicorn status
Electron rockets are under construction at Rocket Lab’s production facility in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab Photo) Fresh on the heels of a successful satellite launch, Rocket Lab today announced that it has received $140 million in new investment. Rocket Lab said the Series E financing round was led by Future Fund and closed last month,…
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Rocket Lab’s test launch carried two previously-unannounced passengers
Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck poses with the Humanity Star satellite. Credit: Rocket Lab A propulsive kick stage designed to expand the performance envelope of Rocket Lab’s light-class Electron satellite launcher and a spacecraft that will grace nighttime skies for the next nine months flew into orbit on the company’s test flight earlier…
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Rocket Lab to launch second orbital-class rocket as soon as next week
Rocket Lab’s second Electron rocket at the company’s New Zealand launch base. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab has scheduled the launch of its second Electron rocket from New Zealand as soon as Dec. 7, U.S. time, on a test flight that will aim to deploy three small CubeSats in orbit. The two-stage booster has a…
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Second Electron rocket shipped to New Zealand launch site
File photo of an Electron rocket. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s second flight-ready Electron rocket has arrived at its launch base in New Zealand for the company’s first mission to deliver commercial satellites into orbit. The launch is expected as soon as December, once engineers and technicians complete several weeks of testing on the rocket.…
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Rocket Lab finishes test flight inquiry, plans second launch later this year
The first Electron rocket took off May 25 from a launch base in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab The inaugural test flight of Rocket Lab’s commercial small satellite booster in May fell short of orbit because a software programming error on a piece of ground equipment led a safety officer to send a premature termination…
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Rocket Lab chief says maiden launch result maintains pace for commercial service
Video credit: Rocket Lab The result of last week’s inaugural test flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron satellite launcher from New Zealand, which reached space but was unable to enter orbit, positions the company for two more demonstration missions in the coming months before the privately-operated booster enters commercial service by the end of the year,…
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Rocket Lab celebrates coming oh so close to orbit with its maiden Electron launch
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck cheers the first Electron rocket launch. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab didn’t quite make it to orbit on its first try, but the company’s CEO says he’s “very happy” with the Electron rocket’s performance nevertheless. “We got a lot further than certainly we expected,” founder and CEO Peter Beck…
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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…