{"id":18068,"date":"2019-05-04T20:16:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-labs-electron-rocket-launches-3-u-s-military-satellites-from-new-zealand\/"},"modified":"2019-05-04T20:16:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T12:16:43","slug":"rocket-labs-electron-rocket-launches-3-u-s-military-satellites-from-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-labs-electron-rocket-launches-3-u-s-military-satellites-from-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket launches 3 U.S. military satellites from New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_496459\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-496459\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-496459\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/190504-rocket1-630x384.png\" alt=\"Rocket Lab Electron launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/190504-rocket1-630x384.png 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/190504-rocket1-768x468.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/190504-rocket1-1260x768.png 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/190504-rocket1.png 1610w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-496459\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from its New Zealand pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rocket Lab sent a trio of research satellites for the U.S. military into orbit tonight from a launch pad that\u2019s thousands of miles from America\u2019s shores, in New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles-based company\u2019s low-cost Electron rocket lifted off from its seaside launch facility on New Zealand\u2019s Mahia Peninsula at 6 p.m. May 5 local time (11 p.m. PT May 4). It was Rocket Lab\u2019s second launch of 2019, and its sixth mission overall.<\/p>\n<p>After liftoff, the Electron\u2019s second stage separated from the first-stage booster, and then released its \u201ckick stage\u201d to deploy the satellites in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPerfect flight, complete mission success, all payloads deployed!!\u201d Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab is known for giving each mission a quirky name. That\u2019s in line with the sensibility associated with New Zealanders, including Beck. This mission was nicknamed \u201cThat\u2019s a Funny-Looking Cactus,\u201d which serves as a nod to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where the Defense Department\u2019s Space Test Program is headquartered.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Electron launches STP-27RD\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eXzmO5jZgS0?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>The three satellites sent up for the Space Test Program\u2019s STP-27RD mission include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Harbinger<\/strong>, built by Denver-based York Space Systems. The satellite is designed to demonstrate an X-band synthetic aperture radar system \u2014 and, more generally, demonstrate to the Pentagon that York\u2019s 150-kilogram (330-pound) S-Class satellites can satisfy its operational requirements. This marks York\u2019s first satellite launch.<\/li>\n<li><strong>SPARC-1<\/strong>, also known as the Space Plug-and-Play Architecture Research Cubesat-1. This U.S.-Swedish satellite is designed to demonstrate the use of modular, miniaturized avionics for military applications in space.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Falcon ODE<\/strong>, or the Falcon Orbital Debris Experiment, built by the Air Force Academy. This 4-inch-wide nanosatellite will release two stainless-steel ball bearings that will be tracked from the ground to watch for changes in background atmospheric density over time. The goal of the experiment is to fine-tune techniques for monitoring orbital debris and getting a better fix on space situational awareness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1 has been cleared for U.S. government and military missions even though it\u2019s located in a country half a world away. The company is building a second launch complex much closer to home, at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia\u2019s Wallops Island.<\/p>\n<p>The Electron rocket is designed to put payloads weighing as much as 225 kilograms (500 pounds) in low Earth orbit for a bargain-basement price of $5 million. The total payload for tonight\u2019s launch came to more than 180 kilograms (400 pounds), which was the most weight launched on an Electron to date.<\/p>\n<p><em>This report was updated at 12:20 a.m. PT May 5 to note successful satellite deployment.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from its New Zealand pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a trio of research satellites for the U.S. military into orbit tonight from a launch pad that\u2019s thousands of miles from America\u2019s shores, in New Zealand. The Los Angeles-based company\u2019s low-cost Electron rocket lifted off from [&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":[4745,439,1596,544,987],"class_list":["post-18068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-electron-rocket","tag-military","tag-new-zealand","tag-rocket-lab","tag-york-space-systems"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068"}],"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=18068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}