{"id":38257,"date":"2018-10-17T21:08:19","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T13:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-selects-wallops-as-first-u-s-launch-site-readies-electron-for-november-launch\/"},"modified":"2018-10-17T21:08:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T13:08:19","slug":"rocket-lab-selects-wallops-as-first-u-s-launch-site-readies-electron-for-november-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-selects-wallops-as-first-u-s-launch-site-readies-electron-for-november-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab selects Wallops as first U.S. launch site, readies Electron for November launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>U.S.-based company Rocket Lab has announced the selection of Wallops at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia as their first U.S. launch location to supplement capabilities from their New Zealand launch pad. &nbsp;The announcement comes roughly one month ahead of the company\u2019s anticipated New Zealand launch of an Electron rocket named \u201cIt\u2019s Business Time\u201d, the first operational Electron flight for Rocket Lab after two test flights in 2017 and 2018, respectively.<\/p>\n<p><b>Wallops chosen as Electron\u2019s first U.S. launch site:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab has officially announced their selection of Wallops at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia to be the first U.S. launch site for their small satellite Electron launch vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes after several months of selection, with Wallops chosen in part for its orbital inclination launch abilities compared to Rocket Lab\u2019s already operational launch site on the Mahia Peninsula on the North Island (Te Ika-a-M\u0101ui) of New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>According to Rocket Lab CEO, Peter Beck, in a one-on-one interview with NASASpaceflight\u2019s Chris Gebhardt at Rocket Lab\u2019s headquarters, \u201cWe were looking for a number of things in the U.S. facility. &nbsp;Obviously, flight rate for us is a big deal, and Wallops was far quieter than some of the other pads in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd for us, the ability to stand up a pad really, really quickly [was key]. &nbsp;And not just stand up a pad, but stand up a whole processing facility and offices and everything. &nbsp;And Wallops had a technology park that\u2019s almost all licensed and ready to go and land that\u2019s ready to build on.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-58466\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/L2-banner@2x.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"2532\">\u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of infrastructure already at Wallops that we can leverage, from cryogenic farms to fueling farms \u2013 all those kinds of things,\u201d said Mr. Beck.<\/p>\n<p>And when Mr. Beck said Rocket Lab plans to build up a pad really quickly, he means it.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Electron 3 \u201cIt\u2019s Business Time\u201d UPDATES<\/li>\n<li>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle <\/li>\n<li>Rocket Lab Electron Forum Section<\/li>\n<li>L2 Master&nbsp;Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The company is planning its first launch of Electron from U.S. soil and its Wallops facility for Quarter 3 of 2019, less than a year from today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe needed to get pad and support up quickly, and Wallops met the bill completely for what we needed to achieve in this time,\u201d said Mr. Beck to NASASpaceflight.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the Wallops launch pad, known as Launch Complex 2 (LC-2), will be Rocket Lab\u2019s second dedicated launch complex, will be capable of supporting monthly orbital launches, and is designed to serve U.S. government and commercial missions.<\/p>\n<p>The site will bring Rocket Lab\u2019s global launch availability across two launch complexes to more than 130 missions per year.<\/p>\n<p>Moreso, the option to select from two launch sites adds an extra layer of flexibility for small satellite customers, offering an unmatched ability to rapidly deploy space-based assets with confidence and precision from a preferred location.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NASA Wallops Range Control Center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BzG2Xmye0g8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab will work with Virginia Space to construct dedicated pad infrastructure at Wallops while also developing a Launch Vehicle Integration and Assembly Facility in the Wallops Research Park to support the simultaneous integration of up to four Electron vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The facility will also contain a control room with connectivity to LC-2, as well as dedicated customer facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Selection of Wallops as the first U.S. launch site for Electron came after Rocket Lab narrowed the final group of choices to four, including Wallops, the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the Pacific Sunport Complex in Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to orbital inclination, Wallops was ultimately chosen due to its non-crowded Range, allowing Rocket Lab greater flexibility and cadence as opposed to other launch locations.<\/p>\n<p>The development of LC-2 will also see Rocket Lab continue expanding Electron rocket production at the company\u2019s headquarters in Huntington Beach, California, and their newly revealed Auckland, New Zealand, facility.<\/p>\n<p>While two launch sites are soon to be in the mix for Rocket Lab, the locations at which specific Electron components are built will not change regardless from where a launch is intended to take place.<\/p>\n<p>All Electron engines and avionics will continue to be produced at the company\u2019s Huntington Beach, California, facility. &nbsp;And all propellant tanks and stage builds will occur at Rocket Lab\u2019s newly-unveiled facility in Auckland, New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" 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?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1050579836563910657&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2018%2F10%2Frocket-lab-us-wallops-first-launch-site-readies-electron-november-launch%2F&amp;sessionId=91d295ddb2e3006b10e457c59eabff86c0f18961&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1050579836563910657\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498241037678997=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You may have heard\u2026.we opened a new rocket factory today. https:\/\/t.co\/iA5IP3FmwW pic.twitter.com\/e70P3gpo5O<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) October 12, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>For Electron launches from New Zealand, the avionics suites and engines will ship from California to New Zealand and be integrated to the propellant tanks and stages at the Auckland, New Zealand, facility before Electron is shipped to its launch location on the Mahia Peninsula. <\/p>\n<p>For launches from the U.S., Electron tanks and stages will be shipped from New Zealand to the launch site at Wallops, its engines and avionics shipped from California to Wallops, with the entire vehicle being integrated at its launch site.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, Mr. Beck emphasized that Wallops is the first Electron U.S. launch location, not the only one \u2013 with the Cape, Vandenberg, and Alaska all still possibilities for future Electron launch sites.<\/p>\n<p>The LC-2 pad will be located within the fenceline of Pad A at Wallops, to the south and east. It will create 30 jobs for the local region, with the local authorities providing a grant of $5m, plus incentives.<\/p>\n<p><b>Getting ready for It\u2019s Business Time:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s announcement also comes roughly one month before Rocket Lab plans to launch its first operational flight of Electron, on a rocket named It\u2019s Business Time. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s Business Time had been scheduled to launch earlier this year, but Rocket Lab stood down that earlier launch window in June 2018 after unusual behavior was identified in a motor controller during pre-launch operations. &nbsp;Initially, it was thought the recycle would be a matter of days, but the decision was ultimately made to rollback the vehicle and change out the controller.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Rocket Lab has not only been working on fixing the motor controller issue but has also been taking time to scale up their facilities to ensure they can meet the flight rates desired for Electron operations.<\/p>\n<p>Part of this work included building two new clean rooms and two customer rooms as completely different facilities so two customers \u2013 even competitors \u2013 can process their payloads for launch at the same time at the New Zealand launch site.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-58618\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58618\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-525x350.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-585x390.jpg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IBT-27-June-263x175.jpg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-58618\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It\u2019s Business Time on the launch pad at LC-1 in June 2018. (Credit: Rocket Lab)<\/p>\n<p>Time was also spent getting a new facility in Auckland up and running \u2013 which Rocket Lab unveiled just last week. &nbsp;The new facility was not previously announced, something which Mr. Beck noted was normal business for Rocket Lab. \u201cWe\u2019ll build it. &nbsp;And then we\u2019ll tell you about it. We\u2019ll make sure it works. We\u2019re a \u2018we\u2019ll do it and then we\u2019ll tell you about it\u2019 company. That\u2019s us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In specific regard to the Auckland facility, Mr. Beck said, \u201cIf you look at what Rocket Lab does, there\u2019s attention to detail in everything we do. &nbsp;Whether it be a launch vehicle or control room, you\u2019ll always see that it\u2019s beautifully designed, beautifully executed with huge attention to detail. &nbsp;And that\u2019s just who we are as a company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And who Rocket Lab is connects directly to the high flight rate they aim to achieve with Electron.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the flight earlier this year, we proved that we could make it to orbit with a very high degree of accuracy,\u201d said Mr. Beck to Chris Gebhardt. &nbsp;\u201cThe next phase, which is equally challenging, is scaling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Beck was specifically talking about the scaling up of the launch rate for Electron \u2013 which Rocket Lab eventually wants to fly at least once a week. &nbsp;But to do that, more space and a quicker production rate were needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe New Zealand factory has gone through a lot of scaling up. &nbsp;The U.S. factory has gone through a lot of scaling up. And the two facilities combined can give us that one a week capability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Still Testing Launch - 01\/21\/2018\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eg5234BOED8?start=865&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid1\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Specifically for the Auckland facility, Rocket Lab has invested in a great deal of automation, especially when it comes to the production of Electron\u2019s propellant tanks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can take a raw tube in one end and literally over a couple of shifts poke out a tank. &nbsp;And then it just rolls down the production line. And it\u2019s literally, in one door will roll a product and then out the other end of the doors is a completed rocket ready to be taken down to the launch site,\u201d said Mr. Beck.<\/p>\n<p>In all, Mr. Beck stated that another scaling up goal for Rocket Lab is getting from contract to launch in just two months \u2013 the amount of time it currently takes the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to process and grant launch licenses for Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n<p>In keeping with the scaling up theme, Rocket Lab plans to increase its launch cadence with the It\u2019s Business Time launch in November followed in December by the NASA ELaNa-19 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites \u2013 19) mission.<\/p>\n<p>At present, It\u2019s Business Time is on track for its launch, with Mr. Beck noting to NASASpaceflight that \u201cit\u2019s gone through all of its acceptance testing, and bits of it are on the way to the launch pad. &nbsp;It\u2019s a November launch, and straight after that we\u2019re going to shoot for the NASA launch in December. So we\u2019re gonna try and do some nice, close back-to-back launch cadence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But more to the heart of Rocket Lab, the company is \u201cnot looking to launch the next rocket. [They\u2019re] looking to launch the next hundred,\u201d said Mr. Beck.<\/p>\n<p>To that end, Rocket Lab is already looking to its \u2013 at present \u2013 16 Electron launches on the books for 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S.-based company Rocket Lab has announced the selection of Wallops at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia as their first U.S. launch location to supplement capabilities from their New Zealand launch pad. &nbsp;The announcement comes roughly one month ahead of the company\u2019s anticipated New Zealand launch of an Electron rocket named \u201cIt\u2019s Business Time\u201d, the [&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":[545,544,4255],"class_list":["post-38257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-electron","tag-rocket-lab","tag-wallops"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38257"}],"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=38257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}