{"id":13730,"date":"2018-06-22T21:51:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T13:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cubesats-set-to-ride-on-rocket-labs-first-commercial-launch\/"},"modified":"2018-06-22T21:51:53","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T13:51:53","slug":"cubesats-set-to-ride-on-rocket-labs-first-commercial-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cubesats-set-to-ride-on-rocket-labs-first-commercial-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"CubeSats set to ride on Rocket Lab\u2019s first commercial launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket is set for liftoff from New Zealand on Friday. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Five small satellites, including one built by high school students in Southern California, are awaiting launch Friday from New Zealand aboard the first commercial flight of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron booster.<\/p>\n

The U.S.-New Zealand launch company plans liftoff of the two-stage rocket during a four-hour window opening at 8:30 p.m. EDT Friday (0030 GMT; 12:30 p.m. New Zealand time Saturday).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently green all around the board,\u201d said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab\u2019s founder and CEO. \u201cWe\u2019re looking good for weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The satellites stowed atop the 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket will gather weather data, track maritime traffic, test a drag sail device for de-orbiting space junk, and embark on a mission of education.<\/p>\n

Sized to haul up to 330 pounds (150 kilograms) into a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) polar orbit, the privately-developed Electron rocket was conceived to provide dedicated rides to space for lightweight payloads which currently must ride piggyback on bigger rockets, often forcing satellite owners to make compromises on orbital parameters and schedule.<\/p>\n

With a launch base on New Zealand\u2019s North Island, a control center and manufacturing base in Auckland, and corporate headquarters and engine factory in Huntington Beach, California, Rocket Lab says it can offer customers a dedicated launch for as little as $4.9 million, a fraction of the price of larger, oversized boosters currently flying.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab is one of several companies competing in the light launch market. Virgin Orbit, Firefly Aerospace, and other launcher developers are still designing and testing their vehicles, making Rocket Lab the first of the group to announce the start of commercial operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really important launch for us, but also for the industry,\u201d Beck said in an interview Thursday. \u201cIt symbolizes the beginning of this long-awaited commercial regular service to orbit for spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of excitement and talk about it, but it\u2019s nice to really have it beginning to be done,\u201d he told Spaceflight Now. \u201cThere\u2019s so many spacecraft on the shelf, and with this mission, we\u2019re at the beginning of where we can now provide a service to all these spacecraft that have been getting stuck, from here on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming launch will be the third flight of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron booster, following two test flights in May 2017 and in January.<\/p>\n

The May 2017 mission, which Rocket Lab christened \u201cIt\u2019s a Test,\u201d reached space but fell short of the velocity needed to reach orbit when range safety officials terminated the mission due to a ground tracking error. On Jan. 20 (U.S. time), the second Electron mission \u2014 dubbed \u201cStill Testing\u201d \u2014 placed a package of small satellites into orbit.<\/p>\n

The success in January prompted Rocket Lab officials to proceed with the start of commercial service with the third Electron launch, named \u201cIt\u2019s Business Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the payloads aboard the Electron launch in January was a geodesic sphere built and owned by Rocket Lab. Designed for to reflect sunlight to make it visible from the ground, the 3-foot (1-meter) sphere \u2014 resembling a disco ball and named Humanity Star \u2014 re-entered Earth\u2019s atmosphere after about two months.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab did not announce the presence of the Humanity Star satellite on the January launch until after it was deployed in orbit. With the start of commercial service, no such surprises are expected on the next mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like we\u2019ve developed a reputation for new things and surprises, but there are no particular surprises on this launch,\u201d Beck said. \u201cWe\u2019re running the kick stage once again for this particular flight, but the vehicle is basically identical to the last flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Curie kick stage also debuted on the January mission and went unannounced until after the successful demonstration. The kick stage burns a non-toxic \u201cgreen\u201d monopropellant. A company spokesperson said earlier this year that details about the make-up of the propellant are \u201ccommercially sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lower two stages of the Electron rocket consume a mix of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab says the kick stage allows Electron flights to place multiple satellites into different orbits, using the Curie engine\u2019s reignition capability to adjust inclination and altitude. That will benefit customers flying different types of payloads on the same Electron mission, with the kick stage maneuvering to different orbits to drop off each satellite group.<\/p>\n

The first commercial Electron flight was supposed to occur in late April, but managers grounded the launcher after the ground team noticed \u201cunusual behavior\u201d in a DC motor controller driving turbopumps on the rocket\u2019s first stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re abundantly cautious around here, so we saw that behavior, and we didn\u2019t want to fly until we really understood what that was,\u201d Beck said. \u201cIt turned out to not be a hardware issue. It was completely a process issue with production.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took our time to really drill down and make sure we fully understood the cause because from here on out, we\u2019re looking at a very high clip of manufacturing and launch for the rest of the year,\u201d he said. \u201cThe last thing we want to do is interrupt our manufacturing and launch flow with any kind of unresolved issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of the year, Rocket Lab aims to achieve a launch cadence of one flight per month.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab took advantage of the two-month delay to add two more payloads to the mission.<\/p>\n

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A model of the drag sail to be demonstrated on the NABEO spacecraft. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the new satellite passengers is Irvine01, a educational CubeSat built by California high school students. Irvine01 is part of the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program, comprising members from six high schools in Irvine, California.<\/p>\n

The other payload added to the next Electron launch is a drag sail technology demonstrator named NABEO. Developed by High Performance Space Structure Systems in Germany, the NABEO small satellite mission will test a deployable 27-square-foot (2.5-square-meter) membrane using aerodynamic drag to slow down and de-orbit, a capability that could reduce space junk in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab said Ecliptic Enterprises and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems assisted with accommodating the Irvine01 and NABEO payloads on the Electron mission.<\/p>\n

The Irvine01 and NABEO satellites joined two CubeSats for Spire Global, and one nanosatellite for GeoOptics that were already booked on the Electron launch. The Spire and GeoOptics payloads will measure GPS satellite navigation signals passed through Earth\u2019s atmosphere to derive information about weather and climate.<\/p>\n

According to Beck, automated analysis tools and faster turnarounds in licensing and regulatory approvals made the late accommodation of Irvine01 and NABEO nanosatellites possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocket Lab is a third about the rocket, a third about regulatory, and a third about infrastructure,\u201d Beck said. \u201cWhile the rocket is always the exciting bit that everybody gravitates to, actually the other two pieces here are equally important if we really want to move the needle on the space industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, you talk about launch minus so many months to manifest a payload,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working very closely with the regulatory authorities to put in place mechanisms where we can do these kinds of things in a very quick way that satisfies all the regulatory constraints, but also developing tools for the launch vehicle for doing coupled loads analysis for adding new spacecraft<\/p>\n

\u201cSo (we\u2019ve been) automating some of those processes and building the tools so that we can really turn these payload quickly. That\u2019s the whole point of what we\u2019re trying to achieve \u2014 regular and reliable service to orbit. Unfortunately, it\u2019s nowhwere near as exciting as the rocket, but actually it\u2019s incredibly critical.\u201d<\/p>\n