{"id":17551,"date":"2021-05-15T17:49:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T09:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blacksky-earth-observing-satellites-lost-due-to-anomaly-during-rocket-lab-launch\/"},"modified":"2021-05-15T17:49:52","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T09:49:52","slug":"blacksky-earth-observing-satellites-lost-due-to-anomaly-during-rocket-lab-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blacksky-earth-observing-satellites-lost-due-to-anomaly-during-rocket-lab-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackSky Earth-observing satellites lost due to anomaly during Rocket Lab launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_620707\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-620707\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-620707\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/210515-rocketlab1-630x445.jpg\" alt=\"Rocket Lab Electron launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/210515-rocketlab1-630x445.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/210515-rocketlab1-1260x890.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/210515-rocketlab1-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/210515-rocketlab1.jpg 1438w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-620707\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle rises from its pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Two satellites for BlackSky\u2019s Earth observation constellation were lost today when the second stage of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle suffered an anomaly, just minutes after liftoff from New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab said the mission failure was under investigation. \u201cThe issue occurred shortly after stage two ignition,\u201d the company said in a tweet.<\/p>\n<p>The live stream for launch showed what appeared to be a successful launch at 11:11 p.m. New Zealand time (4:11 a.m. PT), followed by a stage separation that went according to plan. However, it looked as if the second stage\u2019s rocket engine shut down and failed to push the satellites to orbit.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Previously:<\/strong> Seattle\u2019s space industry plays leading role in building BlackSky\u2019s Earth-observing network<\/h4>\n<p>The satellites were built by Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella for BlackSky, which splits its staff between offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va. Pre-launch logistics for the mission were handled by Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply sorry to our customers Spaceflight Inc. and BlackSky for the loss of their payloads,\u201d Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement. \u201cWe understand the monumental effort that goes into every spacecraft and we feel their loss and disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a tweet, Spaceflight Inc. said it was a \u201csad day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are devastated for our customer @BlackSky_Inc at the loss of this mission,\u201d the company said. We\u2019ve reached out to Spaceflight Inc., BlackSky and LeoStella and will update this story with any further information.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Electron launches two BlackSky satellites\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SF0QBW_zSl8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab \u2014 which has its U.S. headquarters in Long Beach, Calif., but launches its Electron rockets from New Zealand\u2019s Mahia Peninsula \u2014 said it would work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the anomaly, identify the root cause and correct the issue for future missions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn one of our toughest days, our team operated with professionalism and worked swiftly to ensure the anomaly was managed safely,\u201d Beck said. \u201cWe will learn from this, and we\u2019ll be back on the pad again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>BlackSky and LeoStella have several more satellites in the pipeline for Rocket Lab launches scheduled later this year. The anomaly investigation seems certain to force postponement for those launches.<\/p>\n<p>This mission, nicknamed \u201cRunning Out of Toes,\u201d marked the 20th orbital launch attempt for Rocket Lab, a space startup that\u2019s preparing for a blank-check merger deal valued at $4.1 billion. Seventeen of those attempts have been successful.<\/p>\n<p>The two previous failures came in 2017 after Rocket Lab\u2019s first liftoff&nbsp;(due to a software glitch) and last July during the launch of multiple satellites&nbsp;(due to a faulty electrical connection).<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s mission was also meant to test procedures that will eventually allow for reuse of the Electron rocket\u2019s first-stage booster. That part of the mission, which involved a \u201csoft splashdown\u201d of the booster into the Pacific Ocean and its recovery from the sea, appeared to meet Rocket Lab\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle rises from its pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Two satellites for BlackSky\u2019s Earth observation constellation were lost today when the second stage of Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle suffered an anomaly, just minutes after liftoff from New Zealand. Rocket Lab said the mission failure was under investigation. [&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":[404,2128,544,20,442,2340],"class_list":["post-17551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blacksky","tag-blacksky-global","tag-rocket-lab","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-spaceflight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17551"}],"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=17551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}