{"id":38516,"date":"2018-03-14T19:40:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T11:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-manifests-third-flight-aims-for-expanded-flight-rate-and-launch-sites\/"},"modified":"2018-03-14T19:40:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T11:40:37","slug":"rocket-lab-manifests-third-flight-aims-for-expanded-flight-rate-and-launch-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-manifests-third-flight-aims-for-expanded-flight-rate-and-launch-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab manifests third flight, aims for expanded flight rate and launch sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Rocket Lab continues to put together their manifest for the first operational year of Electron\u2019s service, the company is keeping their eye firmly fixed on the future \u2013 with options to expand launch operations to other launch sites while operating Electron in a \u201csweet spot\u201d within the launch market and capitalizing on the company\u2019s popularity within the spaceflight community.<\/p>\n

Manifest:<\/b><\/p>\n

Presently, Rocket Lab is in the process of finalizing their flight manifest for 2018 and the first operational year of Electron\u2019s service to the small satellite market.  <\/p>\n

That first operational flight, Electron\u2019s third overall mission, will carry two Lemur-2 cubesats for Spire Global; Rocket Lab confirmed the primary customer in a media announcement Wednesday (UTC time in New Zealand), stating also that the full manifest will be confirmed in coming weeks.<\/p>\n

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The Electron rocket on its sea-side launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. (Credit: Rocket Lab)<\/p>\n

For flight three, Rocket Lab will continue its trend of naming each Electron rocket.  The first Electron was called \u201cIt\u2019s a Test\u201d while the second was named \u201cStill Testing\u201d.  For flight three, Rocket Lab conducted an online poll with three suggested names. The winning name, \u201cIt\u2019s Business Time\u201d was chosen by the company as the name for the third rocket.<\/p>\n

In a statement to media, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck stated that \u201c\u2018It\u2019s Business Time\u2019 highlights Rocket Lab\u2019s agile approach to responsive space.  The launch has been manifested just weeks out from launch, rather than the many months or years it can typically take under existing launch models.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Business Time\u201d will be shipped from Rocket Lab\u2019s Huntington Beach, California, production facility to the launch site in M\u0101hia Peninsula, New Zealand, in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

In an interview with NASASpaceflight\u2019s Chris Gebhardt, Mr. Beck stated that flight four will be for NASA carrying the ELaNa XIX payloads: ANDESITE, CeREs, CHOMPTT, Da Vinci, ISX, NMTSat , RSat-P, Shields 1, STF 1, CubeSail 1, CubeSail 2, GeoStare, TomSat Eagle Scout, TomSat R3, and SHFT 1.<\/p>\n

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An Indian Space Research Organisation PSLV rocket lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. (Credit: ISRO)<\/p>\n

In terms of the longer-range manifest this year, an unexpected hiccup presented itself last week when Swarm Technologies came under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States following the unauthorized and unlicensed launch of four of the company\u2019s SpaceBee demo satellites in January on an Indian Space Research Organisation\u2019s PSLV rocket.<\/p>\n

The SpaceBees\u2019 launch took place a month after the FCC refused to authorize the launch and give Swarm Technologies permission to use U.S. comm frequencies for the satellites\u2019 on-orbit operation.  The company launched the satellites anyway in a seeming rebuke of the FCC, whose prime concern was the small size of the satellites and their addition to the space debris problem.<\/p>\n

Swarm Technologies had planned to launch additional SpaceBee satellites with Rocket Lab in the next few months; however, following the incident in January, the FCC placed an indefinite hold on the company\u2019s application for this Rocket Lab mission, and Rocket Lab confirmed to Michael Sheetz of CNBC that the company will not launch any payload that does not have proper licensing from the governing authority.<\/p>\n