Tag: Electron

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Rocket Lab to open a new combined HQ, mission control and production facility in Long Beach

Rocket Lab is expanding its U.S. footprint, alongside the opening of its first launch site on Wallops Island, Virginia. The rocket launch startup will open a new corporate headquarters in Long Beach, California, at a facility that will also provide some production capabilities, and act as its second Mission Control Center, complementing its existing Mission Control in New Zealand.

Construction on the new facility has already begun, Rocket Lab says, and should be completed in the second quarter of this year. Its production capacity will mean it can put out over a dozen full Electron launch vehicles per year, which should serve the company’s needs in terms of supplying its planned launch cadence of roughly one launch per month from the Wallops Island launch site.

In addition to Electron launch vehicles, the Long Beach facility will also be producing Rocket Lab satellites, which are part of the company’s expanded service offerings. Rocket Lab announced last year that it was moving beyond just offering launches to clients, and will provide end-to-end mission services – including customizable satellite hardware which can be tailored to the needs of clients looking to deploy small satellites for any number of purposes.

Rocket Lab is also going to house its first U.S. Mission Control Center at this Long Beach location, from which it’ll be able to coordinate and manage its launches at Wallops. Between that and its NZ-based Mission Control, this should help it manage the increased volume it should ramp up to when launching from both LC-1 in New Zealand and LC-2 at Wallops – and eventually, a second launch pad at its Mahia Peninsula, NZ complex.

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Orbex lands TriSept as a customer for rideshare rocket launch mission in 2022

Space launch startup Orbex has secured a customer for its forthcoming Prime space launch vehicle: TriSept, a provider of launch integration services for both commercial and government customers. TriSept has booked the full capacity of a rideshare mission aboard an Orbex Prime rocket to take off sometime in 2022, which should work schedule-wise provided Orbex meets its target of flying its initial missions starting next year.

Orbex is leaning on 3D-printing to expedite its launch vehicle production process, while also keeping costs low. The UK-based company is also in the process of working on final approvals and consecution of a new spaceport in Sutherland, located in the Scottish highlands, which, when complete, will be the first mainland space launch facility in Europe.

TriSept, which provides launch management and brokerage services in addition to integration for payloads loaded into the launch vehicle, has been operating gin the U.S. space market for years now, and it’ll also be setting up a full-time presence in the UK ahead of the Sutherland spaceport’s opening later this year, at Harwell Space Campus in Oxford.

Fro Orbex, this is a significant deal in part because it’s the European company’s first US-based customer. TriSept has also worked closely with SpaceX and Rocket Lab on launch services for past rideshare missions, so it’s a good partner for Orbex to be working with as it looks to replicate some of the success of those other two launch startups in spinning up its own operations.

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Rocket Lab to open a third launch pad – its second in New Zealand

Small satellite launch company Rocket Lab just officially declared its second launch pad open, but it’s already broken ground on a third. The new one will be located in New Zealand on the Mahia peninsula, right next to its first launch pad at the company’s original launch facility – which is already the first and only privately-owned and operated rocket launch facility on Earth.

Rocket Lab’s new launch pad at Launch Complex-1 (LC-1) will provide it with the ability to launch with even more frequency. Already, the company intends its LC-1 to be the locus of its rapid response and high volume business, while its new launch pad on Wallops Island in Virginia is primarily designed to unlock access to clients who require U.S.-based launch operations from American providers (Rocket Lab is now officially headquartered in LA).

The company has been doing a lot of work to increase its ability to launch multiple missions in quick succession – this year, it unveiled a new room-sized carbon composite manufacturing robot that can turn parts of its Electron launch vehicle construction process that used to take weeks into something that is done in just hours. It’s also now in the process of developing a way to recover the first-stage booster of Electron, which would save it even more time and money on building new ones between missions.

Ultimately, Rocket Lab wants to get runaround time between missions to mere days, and having two active pads at the same site will mean it has a lot more flexibility to do things like bumping a customer up the queue should conditions allow, or adding a new customer with tight timelines on an ad hoc basis.

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Rocket Lab adds new $7.5 million “Mission Success” coin to its online store

Rocket Lab’s merch store has pretty much what you’d expect from a space-themed gift shop – baby onesies, t-shirts, caps and mission patches. But the commercial rocket launch company just added its latest product, and it’s a bit different from their standard fare: For just $7.5 million, you can own a “Gold Mission Success coin” for a “dedicated mission,” in either LC-1 (Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch facility) or LC-2 (the company’s new Virginia-based US launch site) flavors.

The coin is “triple plated gold,” but its material composition isn’t the reason for the high price. And in fact, there is a way to get one absolutely free – all you have to do is purchase a dedicated launch aboard one of Rocket Labs’ Electron launch vehicles. That makes sense because the cost for Rocket Lab’s dedicated launch services (when you’re not splitting the cost across a long list of small payloads from multiple customers) appears to be right in that range.

If you just want the coin and not the 56-foot, 27,000+ lb rocket, however, Rocket Lab’s latest product is for you. The detailing on the coin’s face and back looks pretty nice, and it’s a relatively large coin as far as coins goes, since it looks like its probably around double the diameter of a quarter, at least.

If anyone’s feeling generous, this is now at the top of my holiday wish list – but I want both obviously so I can have a full set.

 

 

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Rocket Lab launches 10th Electron mission with successful rocket booster re-entry

Rocket Lab launched its 10th Electron spacecraft on Friday morning, successfully delivering payloads for clients Spaceflight and Alba Orbital. The launch company also had an important secondary mission for this launch: Testing out the guidance, control and navigation systems of their first stage rocket recovery system.

Rocket Lab announced earlier this year that it would be aiming to convert its Electron launch system into a partially reusable one, after initially designing and operating it as a one-time use launcher and spacecraft. To that end, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck revealed how the company will look to effect a controlled re-entry for the Electron first-stage rocket booster, after which it’ll be caught mid-air by a helicopter as it descends at a speed slowed by an onboard parachute.

This morning’s launch provided a test for a key element of that system – the re-entry control and navigation equipment and software that helps the first-stage effect the crucial first part of recovery, by returning to Earth’s atmosphere after separating from the rest of the launch vehicle.

The first stage re-entry seems to have gone according to plan, as Rocket Lab on Twitter termed it a “successful guided re-entry of stage 1.” In fact, Beck said that the Stage 1 recovery actually went “better than expected,” which indicates it outperformed whatever parameters the company had set to define success in this case – probably pretty broad because the whole purpose of the re-entry in this instance was to test and gather data.

Rocket Lab’s approach differs from SpaceX’s first stage recovery process, which the company demonstrated yet again during a launch earlier this week. Rocket Lab won’t be using propulsion to achieve either re-entry or landing, like SpaceX does, which will be more efficient and practical for a smaller launch vehicle. Instead, it’s turning the booster around in space using a controlled burn to orient it optimally for a re-entry that helps it shed enough of its speed to allow it to deploy its parachute and descend at a rate where it can be caught by the helicopter – a maneuver that’s actually relatively simple compared to a propulsive landing, despite its seeming complexity.

Depending on what happens with recovery of this booster, which Rocket Lab didn’t attempt to catch mid-air but which it is hoping to recover from the ocean, we should get an idea of next steps – including possibly when we’ll see an attempt to not just recover a rocket, but also refurbish and reuse it.

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Rocket Lab readies Electron for its first launch with rocket recovery systems on board

Rocket Lab is getting ready to fly its tenth mission, delayed from its first launch window last week and now making its second attempt. Aside from being a milestone 10th mission (dubbed ‘Running Out of Fingers,’ ha), this will be the first time that Rocket Lab includes technology designed to help it eventually recover and reuse elements of its launch vehicle.

After first designing its Electron launch platform as a fully expendable spacecraft, meaning it could only do one way trips to bring cargo to orbit, Rocket Lab announced that it would be moving towards rocket reusability at an event hosted by CEO and founder Peter Beck in August. To make this happen, the company will be developing and testing the tech necessary to recover Electron’s first-stage rocket booster over the course of multiple missions.

To be clear, this mission has the primary goal of delivering a number of small satellites on behalf of paying customers, including microsatellites from Alba Orbital and a Tokyo -based company called ALE that is using microsatellites to simulate particles from meteors. But Rocket Lab will also be testing recovery instrumentation loaddd on board the Electron vehicle, including guidance and navigation systems, as well as telemetry and flight computer hardware. This will be used to gather real-time data about the process of re-entry for Electron’s first stage, and Rocket Lab will also attempt to make use of a reaction control system to control the orientation of the booster as it re-enters.

While this mission will only test those elements of the recovery system, eventually, the goal is to have the Electron first-stage re-enter and deploy a parachute to slow its descent, after which it’ll be intercepted by a helicopter and caught mid-air, with the helicopter effectively towing it to its final drop-off point. It’s a different approach from SpaceX’s powered propulsive landing, but one that’s quite a bit easier from a technical perspective, and mad possible by the lighter weight of the Electron booster, vs. the larger and heavier SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage.

Rocket Lab has completed what’s known as a ‘wet dress rehearsal,’ which is basically a simulated run-up to launch with propellant loaded into the actual rocket, and should be ready to go for later this week, provided conditions are favorable and all other factors remain clear for launch.

You can watch the launch live right here:

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Here’s the first look inside Orbex’s Scotland rocket factory

European private launch startup Orbex is getting ready to start actually launching payloads aboard its own rockets, and it’s pulling back the curtains to give a look at the factory it’s using to build its launch vehicles. The UK-based company is building its rockets from a facility in Scotland, and this virtual tour gives an idea of what they’re doing to make the first rocket field by renewable, clean-burning fuel a reality.

Orbex Prime’s Stage 2 vehicle.

The second stage that Orbex will use employs bio-prone for its fuel, which will reduce carbon emissions by as much as 90 percent vs. the kerosene based fuel used on most similar vehicles. Orbex also built reusability into their ‘Prime’ launch vehicle design, and it’s 3D-printing its engines in one single piece, working with partner SLM to make this possible. That will add more structural reliability to the engine, the company says.

Orbex carbon fibre winding machine.

In service of making this unique vehicle, the Orbex site in Scotland features “one of the largest carbon fibre winding machines in Europe,” which measures around 60 feet long and which can produce its rockets with a weight savings of up to 30 percent vs. similarly sized vehicles already on the market. That weight savings means faster acceleration and more fuel efficiency.

Also part of the new facility is a large autoclave that is used to bring the rocket components to the proper temperature for setting and curing. The company says that its equipment can wind its main stage fuel tanks in just a matter of hours using this equipment, which is a big part of ability to achieve launch vehicle construction efficiency, which leads to affordable costs for small satellite launch clients keen to make use of the Prime to deliver their payloads.

Orbex’s 3D-printed rocket engine.

The 3D printer for the engines can fully print one of the Prime’s engines in just five hours – each Prime launcher will make use of six for the vehicle that will power the first stage, and a seventh, vacuum-rated one to power the second stage as it makes the final trip to orbit to delivery its payloads.

Orbex already has a number of commercial contracts in place, and expects to fly Prime for the first time sometime in 2021. It’ll look to launch from the proposed Sutherland spaceport, which is currently in development and will be Europe’s first ever mainland orbital spaceport once complete.

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Here’s the first look inside Orbex’s Scotland rocket factory

European private launch startup Orbex is getting ready to start actually launching payloads aboard its own rockets, and it’s pulling back the curtains to give a look at the factory it’s using to build its launch vehicles. The UK-based company is building its rockets from a facility in Scotland, and this virtual tour gives an idea of what they’re doing to make the first rocket field by renewable, clean-burning fuel a reality.

Orbex Prime’s Stage 2 vehicle.

The second stage that Orbex will use employs bio-prone for its fuel, which will reduce carbon emissions by as much as 90 percent vs. the kerosene based fuel used on most similar vehicles. Orbex also built reusability into their ‘Prime’ launch vehicle design, and it’s 3D-printing its engines in one single piece, working with partner SLM to make this possible. That will add more structural reliability to the engine, the company says.

Orbex carbon fibre winding machine.

In service of making this unique vehicle, the Orbex site in Scotland features “one of the largest carbon fibre winding machines in Europe,” which measures around 60 feet long and which can produce its rockets with a weight savings of up to 30 percent vs. similarly sized vehicles already on the market. That weight savings means faster acceleration and more fuel efficiency.

Also part of the new facility is a large autoclave that is used to bring the rocket components to the proper temperature for setting and curing. The company says that its equipment can wind its main stage fuel tanks in just a matter of hours using this equipment, which is a big part of ability to achieve launch vehicle construction efficiency, which leads to affordable costs for small satellite launch clients keen to make use of the Prime to deliver their payloads.

Orbex’s 3D-printed rocket engine.

The 3D printer for the engines can fully print one of the Prime’s engines in just five hours – each Prime launcher will make use of six for the vehicle that will power the first stage, and a seventh, vacuum-rated one to power the second stage as it makes the final trip to orbit to delivery its payloads.

Orbex already has a number of commercial contracts in place, and expects to fly Prime for the first time sometime in 2021. It’ll look to launch from the proposed Sutherland spaceport, which is currently in development and will be Europe’s first ever mainland orbital spaceport once complete.

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Rocket Lab’s new ‘Rosie the Robot’ speeds up launch vehicle production – by a lot

Rocket launch startup Rocket Lab is all about building out rapid-response space launch capabilities, and founder/CEO Peter Beck is showing off its latest advancement in service of that goal: A room-sized manufacturing robot named ‘Rosie.’

Rosie is tasked with processing the carbon composite components of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle. That translates to basically getting the rocket flight ready, and there’s a lot involved in that – it’s a process that normally can take “hundreds of hours,” according to Beck. So how fast can Rosie manage the same task?

“We can produce one launch vehicle in this machine every 12 hours,” Beck says in the video. That includes “every bit of marking, every bit of machining, every bit of drilling,” he adds.

This key new automation tool essentially turns something that was highly bespoke and manual, and turns it into something eminently repeatable and expedited, which is a necessary ingredient if Rocket Lab is ever to accomplish its goal of providing high-frequency launches to small satellite customers with very little turnaround time. The company’s New Zealand launch facility recently landed an FAA license that helps sketch out the extent of its ambition, since it’s technically cleared to launch rockets as often as every 72 hours.

In addition to innovations like Rosie, Rocket Lab uses 3D printing for components of its launch vehicle engines that result in single-day turnaround for production, vs. weeks using more traditional methods. It’s also now working on an ambitious plan for rocket recovery, which should help further with providing high-frequency launch capabilities since it’ll mean you don’t have to build entirely new launch vehicles for every mission.

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Take a virtual tour through Rocket Lab’s New Zealand rocket launch facility

Rocket Lab is one of the extremely small group of rocket launch startups that is actually sending payloads to space, and the company sends all of its spacecraft up from a scenic peninsula located on the East Coast of New Zealand. Why? It’s ideally placed for high frequency launch windows, which should help Rocket Lab send up even more payloads using its Electron spacecraft as it scales. And the side benefits are incredibly stunning views and vistas.

This tour of LC-1 includes a look at where Rocket Lab does final assembly for the spacecraft that it launches, which puts together parts made everywhere from Auckland to Huntington Beach, California. There’s a look at how the rocket is rolled out and lifted for fueling and launch, and some insight into how Rocket Lab goes about partially muting some of the incredible volume of noise that’s produced when it fires up its rocket missions.

Finally, there’s a quick look at LC-2, the second launch pad that Rocket Lab is currently building in Wallops Island, Virginia. This will be the company’s first U.S.-based launch site, which will unlock key launch capabilities for U.S. agency customers, and it’s set to host its first Electron launch sometime early next year.