{"id":11913,"date":"2021-01-16T01:42:15","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T17:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-set-to-launch-super-secret-satellite-for-german-company\/"},"modified":"2021-01-16T01:42:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T17:42:15","slug":"rocket-lab-set-to-launch-super-secret-satellite-for-german-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-set-to-launch-super-secret-satellite-for-german-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab set to launch super-secret satellite for German company"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
An Electron rocket stands on Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1A for the company\u2019s first mission of 2021. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A small communications satellite built by the German company OHB \u2014 a payload so secret that no one has officially disclosed its name or end user \u2014 is set to ride a Rocket Lab Electron launcher into orbit Saturday from New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The European-built spacecraft is set for launch during a seven-minute window opening at 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT; 8:38 p.m. New Zealand time). It will be the 18th flight of an Electron launcher built by Rocket Lab, and the company\u2019s first mission of 2021.<\/p>\n

The two-stage rocket will head south from Rocket Lab\u2019s spaceport at Mahia Peninsula, located on the east coast of New Zealand\u2019s North Island, to deliver its clandestine cargo to a polar orbit hundreds of miles above Earth, according to a mission press kit.<\/p>\n

But officials are saying little about the payload the Electron rocket is carrying into space.<\/p>\n

OHB Group, which builds small and medium-sized satellites, procured the launch from Rocket Lab through its subsidiary OHB Cosmos, according to Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n

The payload from OHB is a \u201csingle communication microsatellite that will enable specific frequencies to support future services from orbit,\u201d Rocket Lab said in a statement. OHB and Rocket Lab have released no additional details about the satellite, which was built by OHB divisions in Germany, Sweden, and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

Peter Beck, Rocket Lab\u2019s founder and CEO, said the launch will take place within six months of the contract signing with Rocket Lab and OHB, a relatively fast turnaround for a launch service agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy flying as a dedicated mission on Electron, OHB and their mission partners have control over launch timing, orbit, integration schedule, and other mission parameters,\u201d Beck said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions from Spaceflight Now, an OHB spokesperson declined to identify the end user of the satellite or provide any other details about its mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cOHB has purchased an Electron launcher for a customer,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

A short prepared statement from OHB, based in Bremen, Germany, also included no further information about the nature of the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cOHB have developed, built and tested a satellite on behalf of the customer. We will also operate it until the end of the satellite\u2019s operational life,\u201d said Dr. Lutz Bertling, member of the OHB executive board and responsible for digitalization, strategy and business development.<\/p>\n

The only hint about the identity of the satellite and OHB\u2019s possible customer for the mission was revealed in an image of the Electron rocket\u2019s payload fairing, which has a pair of mission logos.<\/p>\n

One of the symbols includes an apparent illustration of the satellite on-board the rocket, showing the spacecraft with what appears to be a pair of circular communications antennas. The letters BIU and GMS-T are visible on each side of the satellite illustration.<\/p>\n

Sleuthing by Alexandre Najjar, a launch vehicle and satellite market consultant for Euroconsult, revealed what might be the customer for the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have ID-ed the mystery OHB payload!\u201d Najjar tweeted, adding that the satellite \u201cseems\u201d to be a prototype for a low Earth orbit broadband network linked to a Chinese company named GMS, also known as Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology.<\/p>\n

GMS has a business relationship with KLEO Connect, a German company with Chinese financing that seeks to develop a fleet of small satellites to provide industrial asset tracking and data relay services. KLEO Connect\u2019s first two technology demonstration satellites launched on a Chinese rocket in 2019.<\/p>\n

Najjar wrote on Twitter that details on the arrangement between OHB and GMS is \u201cprobably secret due to Germany-China relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
An image of the payload fairing for Rocket Lab\u2019s first launch of 2021 provides one of the few hints about the super-secret payload on-board. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With its newest upgrades, Rocket Lab\u2019s 59-foot-tall (18-meter) Electron launcher can carry about 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of payload to a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) polar orbit. Rocket Lab sells Electron flights for as little as $7 million, offering small satellite operators dedicated rides for their payloads.<\/p>\n

On Saturday\u2019s flight, the Electron\u2019s first stage will burn its nine Rutherford engines, fed by kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants, for about two-and-a-half minutes.<\/p>\n

The rocket\u2019s single Rutherford second stage engine will inject a kick stage and the OHB-built payload into an elliptical transfer orbit, then the kick stage will \u201cperform a series of burns with its relightable Curie engine to raise apogee and act as a space tug to deliver the OHB Cosmos\u2019 payload to its precise orbital destination,\u201d Rocket Lab said.<\/p>\n

The Curie engine will perform a burn to lower its orbit after deploying its satellite cargo, enabling the spent rocket stage to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up faster to prevent it from becoming another piece of space junk.<\/p>\n

U.S.-based Rocket Lab has nicknamed its first mission of 2021 \u201cAnother One Leaves the Crust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab does not plan to recover the Electron\u2019s first stage booster on this mission. The company retrieved an Electron first stage for the first time following a launch in November, an initial step in eventually reusing Electron boosters to increase Rocket Lab\u2019s launch rate.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab\u2019s seven Electron flights in 2020 set a record for the company, which says it has a \u201cpacked\u201d launch schedule from three pads in 2021.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Electron rocket stands on Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1A for the company\u2019s first mission of 2021. Credit: Rocket Lab A small communications satellite built by the German company OHB \u2014 a payload so secret that no one has officially disclosed its name or end user \u2014 is set to ride a Rocket Lab Electron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1910,135,291,1715,545,455,1911,1912],"class_list":["post-11913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-another-one-leaves-the-crust","tag-china","tag-commercial-space","tag-curie","tag-electron","tag-germany","tag-gms","tag-gms-t"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}