Tag: Rocket Lab
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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 puts its first low-cost Electron launch vehicle in space from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket rises from its New Zealand launch pad. (Rocket Lab via Twitter) Rocket Lab says its first Electron rocket “made it to space” after a test launch from a New Zealand pad, marking a big step toward its goal of putting payloads into orbit for $5 million. Liftoff came at 4:20 p.m. Thursday…
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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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Spaceflight buys Rocket Lab Electron launch for a small satellite sampler
Seattle-based Spaceflight says it’s struck a deal to buy the full capacity of a single Electron rocket launch from L.A.-based Rocket Lab, so it can send other ventures’ small satellites into orbit at cut-rate prices. The dedicated-rideshare mission follows the model that Spaceflight set with SpaceX for a Falcon 9 launch, now expected to go up…
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Rocket Lab gains space unicorn status with an added $75 million in funding
Rocket Lab says it has closed a $75 million Series D financing round for production of its low-cost Electron rocket, which is expected to see its maiden launch within the next couple of months. The round was led by Data Collective, with additional new funding from Promus Ventures and an undisclosed investor, plus fresh funding from…
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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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Moon Express and Rocket Lab make deal for lunar landings in 2017
Moon Express co-founder and CEO Bob Richards shows off a model of the MX-1 lunar lander in 2013. (Credit: Moon Express via YouTube) Moon Express says it has reserved three lunar lander launches from a startup called Rocket Lab starting in 2017, with an eye toward putting robots on the moon’s surface and winning the…
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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.…