Tag: Rocket Lab
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The re-flight of a Rutherford engine demonstrates rocket reuse is here to stay
Rocket Lab launched its 40th Electron mission this week and achieved an important milestone in its quest to reuse orbital rockets. As part of the mission, the launch company reused a previously flown Rutherford engine on its first stage for the first time. In terms of orbital rockets, only NASA’s space shuttle and SpaceX’s Falcon…
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Peter Beck pushes toward a Neutron debut in 2024, but acknowledges challenges
Rocket Lab is having a pretty good year with a rising stock price and reaching a monthly launch cadence with its Electron vehicle for the first time. But as ever in the space business, the focus is not so much on what a company has done but what it will do. And for Rocket Lab,…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX launches Galaxy 37; will launch Starlink Group 6-8
Breaking into the 31st week of 2023, from July 31 to Aug. 6, not much is held in store in terms of launches. Up first this week, a momentous flight took place when the last Antares 230+ flew to LEO during the NG-19 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Following slightly more than…
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Launch roundup: Falcon Heavy launches largest GEO satellite, Rocket Lab’s Electron to complete 40th flight
The week of July 24 through July 30 will end the month with at least four more launches, focused mostly on increasing the number of Earth-imaging satellites sent to space. Firstly, China launched Yaogn satellites atop the Chang Zheng 2D; SpaceX also launched a Starlink mission and Falcon Heavy launched the largest-ever geostationary (GEO) satellite into…
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Launch Roundup: Rocket Lab conducts Electron reuse attempt, SpaceX flies two Starlink v2 missions
The week of July 16 through July 23 saw four more launches take place around the world, potentially increasing the orbital launch count to 108 so far in 2023. This included Rocket Lab’s launch of the “Baby Come Back” mission (which featured a first stage recovery attempt), two more SpaceX Starlink v2 missions, and the…
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Rocket Report: Rocket Lab’s next step in reuse, Blue Origin engine explodes
Welcome to Edition 6.02 of the Rocket Report! I’m on my third week at Ars, and the space beat is as busy as ever. Going forward, Eric and I will alternate work on the Rocket Report every other week. SpaceX broke its own booster reuse record this week, and a Chinese company made history with…
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In-space manufacturing startup aces pharma experiment in orbit
The co-founder of California-based startup Varda Space Industries says his company’s first space mission—a miniature lab that has grown crystals of the drug ritonavir in orbit—is on track to end in the coming weeks with a first-of-its-kind re-entry and landing in Utah. Varda’s spacecraft launched June 12 as part of a rideshare mission on a…
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Launch Roundup: ULA launches Delta IV Heavy; SpaceX launches three missions
In what will be a quiet week for orbital launches, Rocket Lab launched its first suborbital Electron mission; SpaceX launched the Satria satellite to geostationary transfer orbit; China launched the Shiyan 25 payload to a Sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit; United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch the penultimate Delta IV Heavy on the NROL-68 mission; and SpaceX…
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Rocket Lab launches final TROPICS mission
Just under three weeks after Rocket Lab launched the “Rocket Like a Hurricane” mission placing two time-resolved observations of precipitation structure and storm intensity with a constellation of smallsats (TROPICS) satellites for NASA into low Earth orbit, the company launched its Electron rocket on the “Coming to a Storm Near You” mission on Friday. Launching…
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Rocket Lab launches NASA’s TROPICS satellites from New Zealand
NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) constellation, having switched launch vehicles after losing two satellites aboard an Astra Rocket 3.3 last year, has launched — this time aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on a mission titled “Rocket Like A Hurricane” from Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B)…