{"id":12243,"date":"2020-08-31T21:42:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T13:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-returns-to-service-with-successful-launch-for-capella\/"},"modified":"2020-08-31T21:42:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T13:42:44","slug":"rocket-lab-returns-to-service-with-successful-launch-for-capella","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-returns-to-service-with-successful-launch-for-capella\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab returns to service with successful launch for Capella"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_47239\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47239\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47239\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/I-Cant-Believe-Its-Not-Optical-2..jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/I-Cant-Believe-Its-Not-Optical-2..jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/I-Cant-Believe-Its-Not-Optical-2.-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/I-Cant-Believe-Its-Not-Optical-2.-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/I-Cant-Believe-Its-Not-Optical-2.-678x438.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47239\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher lifts off from New Zealand at 11:05 p.m. EDT Sunday (0305 GMT Monday). Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Flying for the first time since a failure in early July, Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher delivered Capella Space\u2019s first commercial radar remote sensing satellite to orbit after lifting off from New Zealand Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The successful mission signaled a return to launch operations for Rocket Lab, a leader in the small satellite launch market, after suffering a failure on the last Electron flight July 4. Investigators traced the cause of the failure&nbsp;to a single faulty&nbsp;electrical connector on the second stage, which detached in flight and led to a premature engine shutdown.<\/p>\n<p>The rocket re-entered the atmosphere and burned up, destroying seven small commercial satellites. It was Rocket Lab\u2019s first failure since beginning commercial service, in which time the U.S.-based launch provider racked up 11 successful mission in a row.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab said last month it will implement improved testing to better screen for bad connectors, and the Electron rocket performed flawlessly Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The 55-foot-tall (17-meter), two-stage small satellite launcher took off at 11:05:47 p.m. EDT Sunday (0305:47 GMT Monday) from Rocket Lab\u2019s privately-owned spaceport at Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>The launch occurred at 3:05 p.m. local time Monday in New Zealand, and the kerosene-fueled rocket pitched on an easterly course from Mahia. After shedding its first stage and payload fairing, the Electron\u2019s second stage fired its single engine for six minutes to place Capella\u2019s Sequoia radar remote sensing satellite into a preliminary transfer orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The Electron second stage released a Curie kick stage to perform the mission\u2019s final burn to place the Sequoia satellite into a targeted orbit at an altitude of 325 miles (525 kilometers). Rocket Lab ended its live launch webcast after the end of the second stage burn, but the company later confirmed on Twitter that the Curie stage deployed Sequoia into its planned orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongratulations to the Capella Space team in this first step to building out a new constellation to provide important Earth observation data on-demand,\u201d said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab\u2019s founder and CEO, in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElectron is the ideal launch vehicle for missions like this one, where the success of a foundational deployment relies heavily on a high level of control over orbit and schedule,\u201d Beck said. \u201cI\u2019m also immensely proud of the team, their hard work, and dedication in returning Electron to the pad safely and quickly as we get back to frequent launches with an even more reliable launch vehicle for our small satellite customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1300269559413452800&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2020%2F08%2F31%2Frocket-lab-returns-to-service-with-successful-launch-for-capella%2F&amp;sessionId=5ed2640b78c6e1c3c66b5c8a7302a9f64fdef0db&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1300269559413452800\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-twitter-extracted-i178269680209494497=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Liftoff of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher, returning to service for the small satellite industry on its first flight since an in-flight failure last month.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH LIVE: https:\/\/t.co\/MyWRfNdTkt pic.twitter.com\/WCTqOuYg9a<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) August 31, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab says it has monthly launches scheduled for the rest of 2020. Major missions planned by Rocket Lab later this year include the company\u2019s first flight from a new pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, and the first attempt to recover an Electron first stage after launch.<\/p>\n<p>Capella\u2019s Sequoia satellite was the sole payload on Sunday\u2019s mission. With a launch weight of about 220 pounds, or 100 kilograms, it is the first of at least seven Earth-imaging radar satellites Capella is building and launching to supply sharp imagery to a range of government and commercial customers.<\/p>\n<p>Headquartered in San Francisco, Capella plans a constellation of small satellites to enable rapid revisit, allowing the company\u2019s orbiting radar observers to collect imagery of the same locations multiple times per day. That will allow government and commercial customers to detect changes in the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Other remote sensing companies have similar business plans.<\/p>\n<p>Planet, another San Francisco-based company, operates a fleet of around 150 small optical Earth observation satellites. BlackSky is also deploying a constellation of optical remote sensing spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>But Capella\u2019s satellites use synthetic aperture radar technology, allowing imagery collection night and day and in all weather conditions. Optical satellites are limited to observations in daylight and in cloud-free skies.<\/p>\n<p>Payam Banazadeh, founder and CEO of Capella, says much of the early demand for the company\u2019s imagery is coming from governments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think initially it\u2019s going to be government, defense and intelligence, both for the domestic U.S. government as well as international governments,\u201d Banazadeh said in an interview with Spaceflight Now before the launch of the Sequoia satellite. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be the primary driver for a lot of the applications in the short term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the National Reconnaissance Office awarded Capella a contract to study the integration of Capella\u2019s commercial radar imagery with the NRO\u2019s government-owned surveillance satellites. The U.S. Air Force awarded Capella a contract in November 2019 to incorporate the company\u2019s imagery into the Air Force\u2019s virtual reality software.<\/p>\n<p>Capella also has a contract with the Navy, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, earlier this year to allow researchers from the U.S. government\u2019s intelligence community to assist Capella.<\/p>\n<p>An inter-satellite link with Inmarsat\u2019s network of geostationary communications satellites will enable real-time tasking of Capella\u2019s satellites. Customers can use an electronic portal to task a Capella satellite for a radar image.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the long term, like other remote sensing companies, everyone is really still trying to find those applications,\u201d Banazadeh said. \u201cThe most interesting ones that we\u2019re finding are things that require an understanding of change, whether it be monitoring infrastructure, or just looking around and identifying change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He identified pipeline, easement and infrastructure monitoring as possible uses for Capella\u2019s imagery. Radar images are also helpful in identifying oil spills, tracking agriculture, and in disaster response.<\/p>\n<p>A Finnish company named ICEYE is also building out a fleet of small commercial radar observation satellites. ICEYE has launched five radar satellites to date, more than Capella. But Capella is a U.S. company, which could give it an advantage selling to the U.S. military.<\/p>\n<p>Capella has a license from NOAA, which regulates space-based remote sensing by U.S. companies, for a constellation of 36 small radar surveillance satellites. The company says it also has permission from U.S. regulators to sell high-resolution radar images globally.<\/p>\n<p>Capella\u2019s first test satellite, named Denali, launched in December 2018 on a rideshare mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. After surveying prospective customers, Capella began redesigning its next series of larger satellites to gather sharper imagery, and collect more data on shorter notice, two leading demands from consumers of satellite remote sensing data.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47205\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47205\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47205\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/sequoia_sat.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/sequoia_sat.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/sequoia_sat-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/sequoia_sat-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/sequoia_sat-678x449.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47205\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s concept of a Capella synthetic aperture radar satellite. Credit: Capella Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sequoia is the first of the new series of satellites, which Capella calls the Whitney line.<\/p>\n<p>The Sequoia satellite was originally supposed to launch as a secondary payload on an Indian rocket in late 2019, but the mission was postponed, prompting Capella to move the satellite to a Falcon 9 launch, according to&nbsp;Banazadeh.<\/p>\n<p>It was then booked to fly as a rideshare passenger on the Falcon 9 launch with Argentina\u2019s SAOCOM 1B radar observation satellite in late March. But that launch was also delayed at the request of Argentina\u2019s space agency as travel and work restrictions were implemented at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>That left Capella looking for another ride for Sequoia. Capella had previously signed a contract with Rocket Lab for a dedicated launch of a future satellite, and&nbsp;Banazadeh said the company decided instead to put Sequoia on the Rocket Lab mission.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab also encountered delays after an Electron launch failed in early July.&nbsp;Meanwhile, SAOCOM 1B launch preparations resumed and the Argentine satellite successfully launched Sunday from Cape Canaveral, hours before the Rocket Lab mission with Sequoia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing this aerospace poker thinking this is going to go before SAOCOM, and now it\u2019s going pretty much at the same time,\u201d Banazadeh said before the launch of Sequoia.<\/p>\n<p>Sequoia\u2019s orbit is inclined 45 degrees to the equator, taking the satellite over much of the world\u2019s populated aeras.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis mid-inclination allows us to give our customers immediate access to rapid coverage of important regions, including the Middle East, Korea, Japan, Europe, South East Asia, Africa, and the U.S.,\u201d Banazadeh wrote in a blog post. \u201cLike all of our Capella satellites, Sequoia will be able to see through clouds and in the dark and detect sub-0.5 meter changes on Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen fully deployed, our satellite constellation will offer hourly coverage of every point on Earth,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Two more Whitney-class satellites are expected to launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission into a polar sun-synchronous orbit later this year. Banazadeh said the experience with launch delays this year has reinforced the importance of having multiple rockets available to deliver Capella\u2019s satellites into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>After the seven Whitney-class satellites, Capella will assess demand to determine how many more satellites to launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re putting up the seven, and the seven are funded and under production,\u201d Banazadeh said. \u201cAfter that, we plan to have more satellites, but whether it\u2019s going to be 12, 24, or 36 is driven by our market, so as we launch more satellites and we identify where the market is going, we will respond to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Power-hungry radars can now fit on smallsats<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Radar remote sensing is a newcomer in the small satellite market. Radar imaging from space has previously been limited to large government-owned satellites costing hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Companies like Capella and ICEYE are trying to break that paradigm, thanks to hardware miniaturization and other technological advances.<\/p>\n<p>Radar instruments have an appetite for high power, and radar antennas are usually large. Those requirements have previously forced radar imaging satellites to be large and expensive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPower and the size of the antennas are the two biggest constraints you have for a SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite, and that has secondary implications,\u201d Banazadeh said. \u201cYou need a big antenna. There are two ways to get that. You can have a fixed antenna, or you can have a deployable antenna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a fixed antenna, \u201cyou can only launch as the primary payload on big rockets, which increases your price per launch,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if you\u2019ve got a deployable antenna and not a fixed antenna, then it\u2019s a little more complex in the structure you build to make sure it deploys appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Capella went with a deployable mesh-based radar reflector antenna. It folds up origami-style for launch, but then unfurls to a diameter of about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) after the satellite separates from its rocket in orbit. The antenna deployment adds some complexity to the satellite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more complex the satellite the longer it takes to commission,\u201d Banazadeh said. \u201cWe have quite a bit of deployable structures to deploy, and we\u2019ll be working through that for a few weeks before we release imagery. We expect to be pretty busy for those first few weeks.&nbsp;We\u2019re going to take our time, and we have to calibrate the instruments, so it will definitely be a process for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Capella says its spacecraft will be capable of gathering radar images for 10 minutes out of every nearly 100-minute orbit, a relatively high duty cycle for a small radar satellite. The radar imager will have a resolution of better than 50 centimeters, or about 20 inches, and can produce images in strips up to 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) long, Capella says.<\/p>\n<p>Banazadeh said other challenges in fielding a fleet of radar reconnaissance satellites include downlinking and processing the vast amount of data the fleet will produce.<\/p>\n<p>There is still a role for bigger, more costly radar satellites,&nbsp;Banazadeh said.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger satellites do have other advantages,\u201d he said. \u201cWhere they\u2019re lacking, I think, is going to be in the revisit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I don\u2019t see it as a replacement,\u201d Banazadeh said. \u201cI see it as bringing a new capability that those companies and those satellites can\u2019t also do. They can\u2019t put put up seven of those even, let alone 20 or 30 with this cost. I think it\u2019s very complementary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher lifts off from New Zealand at 11:05 p.m. EDT Sunday (0305 GMT Monday). Credit: Rocket Lab Flying for the first time since a failure in early July, Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launcher delivered Capella Space\u2019s first commercial radar remote sensing satellite to orbit after lifting off from New Zealand Sunday. The successful [&hellip;]<\/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":[1004,291,159,2045,25,1593,1595,1596],"class_list":["post-12243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-capella-space","tag-commercial-space","tag-earth-observation","tag-i-cant-believe-its-not-optical","tag-launch","tag-launch-complex-1","tag-mahia-peninsula","tag-new-zealand"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12243"}],"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=12243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}