Tag: Electron

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Watch Rocket Lab launch Electron from U.S. soil for the first time

After multiple delays due to inclement weather and high winds, Rocket Lab is poised to launch its first-ever mission from Virginia today, with a two-hour launch window opening at 6PM EST.

The mission is called “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” and the name is appropriate in more ways than one. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket will carry a trio of spacecraft to low Earth orbit for HawkEye 360, a Virginia-based company that collects and analyzes radio frequency analytics using its own satellite constellation. The launch is part of a three-mission contract HawkEye signed with Rocket Lab last April.


The rocket, which will take off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, is also a first for the space agency: Electron is equipped with novel flight safety software that NASA directors say could be a game-changer for launch. The software is called the NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU), a key component of Rocket Lab’s Pegasus software, which was jointly developed by the rocket company and the space agency.

“This flight just doesn’t symbolize another launch pad for Rocket Lab,” CEO Peter Beck told reporters in a media briefing in December. “It’s a standing up of a new capability for the nation.”

Rocket Lab has invested a significant amount of capital into its Virginia facilities. Beyond LC-2, as the launch complex is called, the company has also made Wallops the home of its Neutron rocket development. That includes a launch site and manufacturing and refurbishing facility. Rocket Lab stands out amongst launch companies, including SpaceX, Relativity Space and Blue Origin, for choosing Virginia over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the U.S. Space Force’s Cape Canaveral in Florida. Beck cited “the quietness of the range” and the ability to increase launch cadence as the main draws over the Florida sites.

“KSC is an amazing range but I think everybody has to agree, it’s pretty busy,” he said. “The [Wallops] range is not nearly as busy and there’s a lot of room to grow.”

Once Rocket Lab has its livestream going, we’ll post it to the top of the page. You can also follow all the action over on the company’s Youtube channel.

Watch Rocket Lab launch Electron from U.S. soil for the first time by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Watch Rocket Lab attempt a mid-air Electron rocket booster recovery live

Rocket Lab will try to catch a spent Electron rocket booster mid-air using a helicopter in a few hours, a technique that could be central to driving down rocket production costs and increasing launch cadence. The mission will take place just five months after Rocket Lab conducted its first (partly) successful attempt, during which a helicopter managed to catch the booster, but then dropped it shortly after.

The launch will take place from Pad B at the company’s launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The mission, dubbed “Catch Me If You Can,” will carry a single science research satellite for the Swedish National Space Agency, provided by OHB Sweden, to sun synchronous orbit. Rocket Lab will have a 75-minute window to conduct the launch, which opens at 1:15 PM EST.  The stream at the top of this story will start around 20 minutes before that.

The company’s approach to recovery is a bit different than that of SpaceX. Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth by vertically landing on a pad – it looks like a launch in reverse. Instead, Rocket Lab is equipping its first stage with a parachute. That parachute will slow the booster’s descent, and a waiting helicopter will track the booster’s return before using a capture hook to grip the parachute line. From there, the helicopter will carry the booster straight back to Rocket Lab’s production complex.

“Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time,” Beck said. Let’s see if they can do it.

Watch Rocket Lab attempt a mid-air Electron rocket booster recovery live by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Watch Rocket Lab attempt a mid-air Electron rocket booster recovery live

Rocket Lab will try to catch a spent Electron rocket booster mid-air using a helicopter in a few hours, a technique that could be central to driving down rocket production costs and increasing launch cadence. The mission will take place just five months after Rocket Lab conducted its first (partly) successful attempt, during which a helicopter managed to catch the booster, but then dropped it shortly after.

The launch will take place from Pad B at the company’s launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The mission, dubbed “Catch Me If You Can,” will carry a single science research satellite for the Swedish National Space Agency, provided by OHB Sweden, to sun synchronous orbit. Rocket Lab will have a 75-minute window to conduct the launch, which opens at 1:15 PM EST.  The stream at the top of this story will start around 20 minutes before that.

The company’s approach to recovery is a bit different than that of SpaceX. Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth by vertically landing on a pad – it looks like a launch in reverse. Instead, Rocket Lab is equipping its first stage with a parachute. That parachute will slow the booster’s descent, and a waiting helicopter will track the booster’s return before using a capture hook to grip the parachute line. From there, the helicopter will carry the booster straight back to Rocket Lab’s production complex.

“Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time,” Beck said. Let’s see if they can do it.

Watch Rocket Lab attempt a mid-air Electron rocket booster recovery live by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter again

Rocket Lab is gearing up for a second attempt to catch a rocket booster mid-air using a helicopter, a technique the company is hoping to perfect after a partially successful recovery earlier this year.

The mission, playfully dubbed “Catch Me If You Can,” is scheduled to take place no earlier than November 4 from the company’s launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The 75-minute launch window opens at 1:15 PM EST. It will be the 32nd Electron launch to date.

The company aims to carry a single science research satellite for the Swedish National Space Agency, provided by OHB Sweden, to sun synchronous orbit. The Mesopheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy satellite will be used to study atmospheric waves and their relationship to wind and weather patterns in different parts of the atmosphere.

Catching a rocket booster mid-air is no small feat — even with the parachute that the booster releases to slow its descent to Earth. During the first helicopter recovery attempt on May 2, the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter did manage to grab hold of the parachute line around 6,500 feet above the ocean, but released it almost immediately. The pilot offloaded the booster after noticing “different load characteristics” than had been experienced during testing, a Rocket Lab spokesperson said at the time. Like other recovery attempts, the booster was dropped into the sea and recovered via boat.

Once again, Rocket Lab will be deploying its Sikorsky S-92 helicopter shortly before launch. The S-92, built by Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, is capable of lifting 5,000 kilograms, a capacity that’s more than sufficient for the 1,000-kilogram Electron booster. Rocket Lab outfitted the helicopter with a capture hook, extended range fuel tanks and other features to ensure that the three-person crew — a pilot, co-pilot and rocket spotter — are set up for success.

“Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement.

Rocket Lab, which was founded in 2006, has taken a relatively iterative testing approach. It conducted two missions, in November 2020 and May 2021, where the booster was equipped with a parachute (no helicopter present) and the company gathered data on its descent. The company also used booster simulators and studied boosters fished out of the ocean to better understand their condition upon returning to Earth.

Beck has said that reusability is key to increasing launch cadence and reducing vehicle manufacturing costs. The heavier-lift Neutron rocket, which is still under development, is also being designed for reusability.

Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter again by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter again

Rocket Lab is gearing up for a second attempt to catch a rocket booster mid-air using a helicopter, a technique the company is hoping to perfect after a partially successful recovery earlier this year.

The mission, playfully dubbed “Catch Me If You Can,” is scheduled to take place no earlier than November 4 from the company’s launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The 75-minute launch window opens at 1:15 PM EST. It will be the 32nd Electron launch to date.

The company aims to carry a single science research satellite for the Swedish National Space Agency, provided by OHB Sweden, to sun synchronous orbit. The Mesopheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy satellite will be used to study atmospheric waves and their relationship to wind and weather patterns in different parts of the atmosphere.

Catching a rocket booster mid-air is no small feat — even with the parachute that the booster releases to slow its descent to Earth. During the first helicopter recovery attempt on May 2, the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter did manage to grab hold of the parachute line around 6,500 feet above the ocean, but released it almost immediately. The pilot offloaded the booster after noticing “different load characteristics” than had been experienced during testing, a Rocket Lab spokesperson said at the time. Like other recovery attempts, the booster was dropped into the sea and recovered via boat.

Once again, Rocket Lab will be deploying its Sikorsky S-92 helicopter shortly before launch. The S-92, built by Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, is capable of lifting 5,000 kilograms, a capacity that’s more than sufficient for the 1,000-kilogram Electron booster. Rocket Lab outfitted the helicopter with a capture hook, extended range fuel tanks and other features to ensure that the three-person crew — a pilot, co-pilot and rocket spotter — are set up for success.

“Our first helicopter catch only a few months ago proved we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability even further by bringing back a dry stage for the first time,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement.

Rocket Lab, which was founded in 2006, has taken a relatively iterative testing approach. It conducted two missions, in November 2020 and May 2021, where the booster was equipped with a parachute (no helicopter present) and the company gathered data on its descent. The company also used booster simulators and studied boosters fished out of the ocean to better understand their condition upon returning to Earth.

Beck has said that reusability is key to increasing launch cadence and reducing vehicle manufacturing costs. The heavier-lift Neutron rocket, which is still under development, is also being designed for reusability.

Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter again by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab gear up for launches on new continents

Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab are expanding their launch capacities as each company gears up for inaugural missions from countries that they have never flown from.

For Rocket Lab, that’s the United States; for Virgin, that’s the United Kingdom (which has never seen an orbital launch, ever). Rocket Lab said Wednesday that the Electron rocket arrived at Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Wallops Island, Virginia; Virgin’s Cosmic Girl 747 airplane touched down at the Newquay Airport in Cornwall, southwest England, early evening yesterday. Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket is expected to arrive in Cornwall later this week.

The missions are major milestones for the two companies. Until now, Rocket Lab has exclusively launched Electron from the company’s complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. Meanwhile, Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl 747 airplane and LauncherOne rocket have only ever taken off from U.S. soil.

Both are commercial missions. Electron will deploy radio frequency satellites for HawkEye 360, the first of a three-launch deal between the two companies. That launch will take place sometime in December. Virgin’s manifest includes payload from the United Kingdom, Poland and the first ever CubeSat from Oman. The Long Beach-based company is planning on a November launch date — the first-ever orbital mission from the United Kingdom — though it is still awaiting a launch license from England’s aviation regulator.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said at the company’s investor day that a second mission from LC-2 is planned for the first quarter of 2023. That mission will carry payload for a commercial customer, who has yet to be announced. Rocket Lab’s substantial investment in Wallops doesn’t end there: The company also plans to use the site for all manufacturing, operations and launch of its medium-lift Neutron rocket. Rocket Lab will attempt its first Neutron launch sometime in 2024.

Virgin’s LauncherOne successfully reached space for the first time in January 2021, followed by two more missions, all taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Unlike conventional launch systems, Virgin’s 70-foot-long rocket is carried to high altitude under the wing of a 747 airplane and detaches from the plane in midair.

While Virgin’s mission will mark the first from the U.K., the British government is hoping it won’t be the last. The country has been making major investments in the space sector post-Brexit (until now the U.K. has relied on European partners for launch), and the domestic space industry has been steadily growing since 2012. Perhaps the government’s most well-known investment is the around £500 million ($553 million) it spent to acquire a 45% stake in satellite operator OneWeb. In February, it also released a plan to invest £1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in military satellites and other space technologies for the defense sector over the next 10 years.

Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab gear up for launches on new continents by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Rocket Lab expands US presence with engine testing, launch facilities

Rocket Lab is a U.S.-based company, but until now the bulk of its activities have been conducted in New Zealand. While the company has been public about its plans to expand to both hemispheres for a while, executives released a slew of updates on Wednesday detailing their goal to make the U.S. home to even a greater share of launches, testing and manufacturing.

The company shared the news with investors and the general public during Rocket Lab’s Investor Day. While the event livestream hit a technical snafu, Rocket Lab shared all the updates in a long tweet thread concurrent with the event (read it here). Here are a few of the biggest takeaways.

Expanding presence in North America

Before the Investor Day event even began, Rocket Lab kicked off Wednesday morning with news: It will test the Neutron rocket’s Archimedes engines at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The company secured a 10-year lease for an Archimedes Test Complex at the center, with an option to extend the lease for another 10 years. The company also secured a non-disclosed amount of capital investment from the Mississippi Development Authority to further build out infrastructure for Neutron’s reusable engines.

This one likely isn’t too much of a surprise. Many companies have conducted engine tests at Stennis in the past, including SpaceX for its Raptor engine and Relativity Space for its Aeon engine. NASA has tons of infrastructure and test stands already in place for engine testing, so it’s sensible (not to mention economically wise) for a private company to secure space at the center. Rocket Lab will still have to build out the test complex, though, and that’s where the capital investment will come in handy.

Rocket Lab will also be bringing a substantial amount of investment and activity to Wallops Island, Virginia. The company announced way back in February that it had selected Wallops as the location for Neutron’s first launch site and manufacturing and operations facilities. Again, a sensible decision: Wallops is also home to Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2, its site for Electron rocket launches.

Until now, the company has been vague at best about when an Electron might take off from the Virginia site. But now more: The company said it plans on conducting that first launch from LC-2 in December 2022, followed by a second mission just a few weeks later at the beginning of the new year.

Neutron goes…interplanetary?

Rocket Lab also provided a long-awaited update on Neutron. The latest rendering of Neutron looks slightly different to what we’ve seen before, though the general outline is the same as the previous rendering released at the end of last year. It definitely didn’t escape notice that the company included “interplanetary” on its list of mission profiles for the vehicle, either.

One big design change is in the fairing: We’ve known for a while that Neutron will have a fairing that doesn’t separate from the rocket during launch, but opens instead (Rocket Lab calls this fairing the “Hungry Hippo” for this reason). But instead of opening in four parts, the fairing will open in just two.

The company has made laudable progress, but there’s still much to go through the end of 2023, as they detailed during the presentation. But from the sounds of it, the company is proceeding as planned for the first Neutron launch sometime in 2024.

Rocket Lab expands US presence with engine testing, launch facilities by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project

Rocket Lab and Sierra Space have signed separate agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to explore how their respective flight systems — Rocket Lab’s Electron and Neutron rockets, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane — could be used for superfast cargo delivery on Earth.

The agreements are what’s known as Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), a vehicle to facilitate R&D work between the government and nongovernmental entities like startups and private companies. These specific CRADAs are with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), an agency under the aegis of the DOD.

Under its agreement, Sierra Space and the military will jointly explore using its Dream Chaser plane for hypersonic space transportation for terrestrial cargo and personnel delivery. Under Rocket Lab’s agreement, it will work with the military to investigate using the Electron and Neutron launch vehicles, also for cargo delivery.

While Electron has successfully reached orbit numerous times, both Neutron and Dream Chaser are still under development.

“Point-to-point space transportation offers a new ability to move equipment quickly around the world in hours, enabling a faster response to global emergencies and natural disasters,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement. “We’re excited to be collaborating with USTRANSCOM on this forward-thinking, innovative research program that could ultimately shift the way the Department of Defense considers logistics response options.”

The two CRADAs aren’t limited to the transportation vehicles. The military is also interested in how cargo capsules — specifically, Sierra Space’s Shooting Star cargo module and Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft — can be used to enable ultra-high-speed logistics, as well.

The two agreements are part of the Air Force’s Rocket Cargo project, launched in June of last year, to explore how space industry tech can be used to enable fast, cheap deliveries for the military. It’s just the latest example of the government engaging private industry as a research partner, rather than developing the tech itself. Eventually, the government wants to use this project and others like it to “be the first customer procuring the new commercial capability through service leases.”

As the Air Force acknowledges in a statement on the new Vanguard program, “Delivering cargo via rocket transportation is not a new concept.” However, it goes on to state that the sharp decreases in the cost of launch, combined with higher payload capability, have made rocketry a more enticing prospect for terrestrial delivery.

Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project by Aria Alamalhodaei originally published on TechCrunch

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Rocket Lab fires up its first recovered engine, on track to full booster reusability

Four months after the spectacular feat that was catching a descending rocket stage in mid-air, Rocket Lab has re-ignited one of the engines from that booster — an important step on their roadmap to fielding a fully reusable rocket.

The Rutherford engine, one of nine that power the Electron launch vehicles, went up on the mission “There and Back Again” in May, culminating in the live-streamed capture of the booster as it descended under a parachute. They ended up having to drop it in the ocean anyway because it was affecting the helicopter’s maneuvering, but aside from that it worked like a charm.

Of course any engine that has been through so much will need to be inspected, cleaned, and if necessary repaired, especially if they spent a little time in the drink.

The lucky engine in this case went through the full battery of tests new engines must pass, ultimately blasting for 200 seconds straight. According to Rocket Lab, the used engine performed to the same standard required of a new one. You can watch the test from start to finish here:

Don’t worry, those aren’t parts of the engine flying around. These things are cryogenically cooled so that’s mostly just water and ice.

“Being able to refly Electron with minimal refurbishment is the ultimate goal, and so the fact that the recovered components on this engine performed on the test stand with minimal rework is further validation that we’re on the right path,” said CEO and founder of Rocket Lab Peter Beck in a press release. “If we can achieve this high level of performance from engine components recovered from the ocean, then I’m optimistic and incredibly excited about what we can do when we bring back dry engines under a helicopter next time.”

Reusable boosters are increasingly seen as the best way to achieve both a high cadence and relatively low cost launch operation. Building new engines and rockets is hard work — why throw them away when you’re done? But a rocket designed to be used once may be very different from one designed for reuse, and Rocket Lab has been adjusting its approach to embrace the latter.

Rocket Lab debuts plans for a new, larger, reusable rocket for launching satellite constellations

The next mission where they will attempt to capture a falling first stage booster will take place before the end of the year, the company said, but there’s no set date yet.

I’ve asked Rocket Lab for a few extra details and will update this post if I hear back.

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Watch Rocket Lab launch the first of two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office

Rocket Lab is attempting to demonstrate its speediest launch cadence yet, with two back-to-back missions for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) scheduled to fly 10 days apart. The first mission, dubbed “Wise One Looks Ahead” or NROL-162, is due to launch no earlier than July 12 at 1:00 AM EST (5:00 AM UTC) from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.

The quick cadence is due, in part, to the completion of a second launch pad at the launch facilities. That will enable Rocket Lab to launch this first mission from Pad A (LC-1A) and the second mission from Pad B (LC-1B) no earlier than July 22. Rocket Lab announced the completion of the second launch pad in February. Including the company’s launch site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which has yet to be used, Rocket Lab now has three launch pads at its disposal.

“What we’re doing here with Pad B is essentially doubling our launch capacity,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a video about the new infrastructure. He added that the three pads give Rocket Lab launch capacity from both terrestrial hemispheres, which “for our commercial customers and some of our government customers, they have the flexibility to choose which pad they want to go out and which pad suits their schedule the best.”

Not much is known about the satellite payloads, though that’s by design — Rocket Lab is launching them on behalf of the NRO, a government agency that builds and operates sats used for intelligence and national security. We do know that these satellites were developed in partnership with the Australian Department of Defence, part of a broader alliance between the two countries.

These two launches by Rocket Lab are part of a larger contract with the NRO. The contract model, called Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR), is designed for NRO to work with commercial partners for quick launches at-scale. The first two launches under Rocket Lab’s RASR contract flew in 2020.