{"id":10425,"date":"2023-05-26T19:01:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T11:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-final-two-tropics-cubesats-launched-by-rocket-lab\/"},"modified":"2023-05-26T19:01:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T11:01:32","slug":"nasas-final-two-tropics-cubesats-launched-by-rocket-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-final-two-tropics-cubesats-launched-by-rocket-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s final two TROPICS CubeSats launched by Rocket Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher lifts off from Launch Complex 1B in New Zealand with NASA\u2019s fifth and sixth TROPICS hurricane research satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last two spacecraft in a four-satellite constellation of tropical cyclone research platforms took off late Thursday from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron launcher, helping ensure NASA\u2019s TROPICS mission is ready for observations in time for the peak of this year\u2019s Atlantic hurricane season.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 1B at the company\u2019s privately-owned spaceport in New Zealand at 11:46 p.m. EDT Thursday (0346 UTC Friday). A little more than a half-hour later, the rocket\u2019s upper stage released NASA\u2019s final two TROPICS CubeSats into an on-target orbit about 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.<\/p>\n

The launch, which took off at 3:46 p.m. local time Friday in New Zealand, occurred almost exactly six years after the first test flight of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket. It was the 37th Electron launch overall in Rocket Lab\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s TROPICS satellites will collect imagery, temperature and moisture data over tropical cyclones. With a fleet of four operational satellites, the TROPICS mission will be capable of monitoring rapid changes in cyclones at a cadence of at least once per hour.<\/p>\n

TROPICS stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. NASA selected the TROPICS mission proposal from MIT Lincoln Laboratory in a 2016 competition for funding through the agency\u2019s Earth Venture program, a series of competitively selected, low cost Earth science missions.<\/p>\n

The constellation was originally supposed to consist of six satellites, plus a pathfinder spacecraft that launched in 2021. But the mission architecture only needed four spacecraft to meet minimum scientific requirements. NASA and the TROPICS science team knew the mission, relying on CubeSat technology and emerging launch providers, might carry a higher risk of a spacecraft or rocket failure.<\/p>\n

It turned out the first two TROPICS satellites were lost in a June 2022 launch failure aboard the Rocket 3 vehicle built by Astra, which had a contract for two additional launches to finish deploying the TROPICS satellite fleet.<\/p>\n

NASA switched the launch of the final four TROPICS spacecraft to Rocket Lab, at a cost of $13 million for two launches, as Astra retired its Rocket 3 design to focus on a larger launch vehicle. Rocket Lab has a more successful track record than Astra, and the company delivered the next pair of TROPICS satellites into orbit May 7 after liftoff from New Zealand.<\/p>\n