{"id":13274,"date":"2019-03-25T21:15:47","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T13:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-launch-with-darpas-r3d2-satellite-rescheduled-for-thursday\/"},"modified":"2019-03-25T21:15:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T13:15:47","slug":"rocket-lab-launch-with-darpas-r3d2-satellite-rescheduled-for-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-launch-with-darpas-r3d2-satellite-rescheduled-for-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab launch with DARPA\u2019s R3D2 satellite rescheduled for Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated March 25 and March 26 with new target launch dates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_37636\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37636\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37636\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2dN6sjUYAAYOTo-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2dN6sjUYAAYOTo-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2dN6sjUYAAYOTo-2-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2dN6sjUYAAYOTo-2-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/D2dN6sjUYAAYOTo-2-678x379.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket during a countdown Sunday (U.S. time). Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s launch team canceled a launch attempt Sunday in New Zealand after discovering a misbehaving video transmitter on the Electron booster set to loft a small U.S. military satellite into orbit to test an innovative antenna design. After replacing the transmitter, Rocket Lab announced the launch is set for Thursday (U.S. time) to wait for better weather.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S.-New Zealand launch company announced the initial delay as the Electron counted down to a targeted liftoff time of 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT) Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team has identified a video transmitter 13dB down with low performance,\u201d Rocket Lab tweeted. \u201cIt\u2019s not an issue for flight, but we want to understand why, so we\u2019re waiving off for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Peter Beck, Rocket Lab\u2019s founder and CEO, added that the rocket was \u201ctechnically good to fly, as we have redundant links,&nbsp;but we don\u2019t know why the performance dropped and that makes me uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an update a few hours later, Rocket Lab said crews aimed to replace the suspect video transmitter in time for a second launch attempt Tuesday (U.S. time). But the company announced further delays Monday and Tuesday to wait for lighter winds and improved weather at the New Zealand launch base.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab also cited concerns that safety cutouts to avoid a collision with another object already in orbit would limit launch opportunities during a planned launch window Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; 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=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1110680486513278977&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2019%2F03%2F25%2Frocket-lab-launch-with-darpas-r3d2-satellite-rescheduled-for-tuesday%2F&amp;sessionId=fb878aa1036d41d9f6696460a47f0aa263fb91ba&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1110680486513278977\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782698775402667797=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We were only going to get 2x 15 min launch windows tomorrow due to space traffic and would have to thread the needle between weather events. #LaunchIsMoreThanARocket https:\/\/t.co\/E6eWSWVb1G<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Peter Beck (@Peter_J_Beck) March 26, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Liftoff of the Electron rocket is now scheduled for a four-hour window opening at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT) Thursday.&nbsp;In New Zealand, the launch window will open at 11:30 a.m. local time Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The two-stage Electron rocket will launch the&nbsp;Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency\u2019s Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration satellite into a 264-mile-high (425-kilometer) orbit, where the spacecraft will unfurl an antenna in an experiment to demonstrate how expandable reflector arrays could be stowed into volumes tight enough to fit on a small, relatively inexpensive rocket.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_37637\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37637\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-37637\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/r3d2_art1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/r3d2_art1.jpg 900w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/r3d2_art1-300x156.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/r3d2_art1-768x400.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/r3d2_art1-678x353.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37637\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist\u2019s illustration of DARPA\u2019s R3D2 satellite. Credit: Northrop Grumman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Known as R3D2, the $25 million satellite carries an antenna made of tissue-thin Kapton material, which will open to a diameter of nearly 7.4 feet (2.25 meters) in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft was integrated by Northrop Grumman. R3D2\u2019s spacecraft bus was provided by Blue Canyon Technologies of Boulder, Colorado, and the antenna was designed and built by MMA Designs in Louisville, Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>The R3D2 mission is Rocket Lab\u2019s first launch for the U.S. Defense Department, which is examining how to field more small satellites to provide the military with communications, battlefield surveillance, and other services, making the military\u2019s spacecraft fleets more resilient to attacks and less expensive to design, build and launch.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket has launched four times since May 2017. After the Electron\u2019s inaugural test flight fell short of orbit due to a ground tracking error, Rocket Lab has logged three straight successes delivering CubeSats to orbit for NASA, commercial companies and educational institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Once it lifts off, the Electron rocket will head east from Rocket Lab\u2019s privately-operated launch base on New Zealand\u2019s North Island. The R3D2 satellite is set to deploy from the Electron\u2019s upper stage around 53 minutes into the flight, kicking off the spacecraft\u2019s planned six-month tech demo mission.<\/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>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated March 25 and March 26 with new target launch dates. Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket during a countdown Sunday (U.S. time). Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab\u2019s launch team canceled a launch attempt Sunday in New Zealand after discovering a misbehaving video transmitter on the Electron booster set to loft a small U.S. military [&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":[2510,291,1715,1504,545,25,1593,1595],"class_list":["post-13274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-canyon-technologies","tag-commercial-space","tag-curie","tag-darpa","tag-electron","tag-launch","tag-launch-complex-1","tag-mahia-peninsula"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274"}],"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=13274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}