Tag: Rocket Lab
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Rocket Lab to debut Virginia launch pad with U.S. Air Force mission next year
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) after press conference. File photo of an Electron rocket lifting off from Rocket Lab’s launch site in New Zealand, powered by nine liquid-fueled Rutherford engines. Credit: Rocket Lab / Andrew Burns & Simon Moffatt Rocket Lab plans to launch a research and development microsatellite mission for the…
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Rocket Lab’s Virginia launch pad opens for business, with Air Force as first customer
With Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck at center, dignitaries gather at Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Wallops Island. (NASA Wallops Photo) Rocket Lab today celebrated the opening of a launch complex on the Virginia coast, half a world away from its first launch pad in New Zealand. The California-based company’s…
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Rocket Lab launches 10th Electron flight – critical step towards booster recovery
Rocket Lab’s Electron small satellite launch vehicle conducted its 10th Electron will lift off from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand on Friday, not long after the 10th anniversary of an extremely important event in Rocket Lab’s history. The flight, given the name “Running out of fingers”, involved a rideshare mission, lofting seven small…
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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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Spaceflight and Rocket Lab will put a Japanese shooting-star satellite into orbit
An artist’s conception shows the ALE-2 shooting-star satellite in orbit. (ALE / Spaceflight Illustration) Seattle-based Spaceflight says it’s handling the pre-launch logistics for a Japanese satellite that’s designed to spray artificial shooting stars into the sky. Tokyo-based ALE’s spacecraft is just one of seven satellites due to be sent into orbit from New Zealand as…
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Rocket Lab launches Electron Flight 9 as work on new U.S. pad continues
On Thursday, Rocket Lab launched its workhorse Electron rocket on its ninth total mission since its debut in 2017, and its fifth mission in 2019 – the most for the company to date. The payload consisted of a single satellite provided by California’s Astro Digital as part of a dedicated flight. The 14-day launch window…
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Rocket Lab launches four satellites for BlackSky, UnseenLabs and U.S. Air Force
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from its launch pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a foursome of satellites into orbit today for a threesome of customers, including the Seattle-based BlackSky Earth-watching venture. BlackSky’s sibling subsidiary, Spaceflight, handled the prelaunch logistics for the Global-4 satellite and for a pair of…
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Rocket Lab launches Electron flight 8. Company previews first stage recovery
Rocket Lab has conducted the launch its Electron rocket on its eighth mission, launching from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. For this mission, Electron lofted four satellites into orbit for UnseenLabs and Spaceflight. The first attempt was scrubbed due to unacceptable ground winds, before recycling for a Monday launch. Electron…
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Smallsat companies teaming up on deorbit experiment
Artist’s concept of a satellite manufactured by Millennium Space Systems. Credit: Millennium Space Systems TriSept Corp. has announced plans for a commercial technology demonstration mission set for launch next year on a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle to test a deployable conductive tape, made by Tethers Unlimited, that could help small satellites more quickly fall out…
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Rocket Lab will try helicopter recovery of rocket booster – and CEO will eat his hat
An artist’s conception shows a future Electron rocket making a re-entry after launch. (Rocket Lab Illustration) Taking a page from SpaceX’s playbook, Rocket Lab’s CEO says the company will try to recover the first-stage booster of its Electron rocket to save time and money. “Electron is going reusable,” CEO Peter Beck announced today at the…