Rocket Lab launches smallsats
Posted: Fri, Mar 26, 2021, 6:02 PM ET (2202 GMT)
Rocket Lab successfully launched six satellites and a second demonstration of its Photon satellite bus Monday. The Electron rocket lifted off from the company's New Zealand launch pad at 6:30 pm EDT (2230 GMT), deploying five satellites into a 550-kilometer orbit nearly an hour after liftoff and the sixth, a BlackSky imaging satellite, into a 450-kilometer orbit an hour later. The satellites on the mission included internet-of-things satellites for Fleet and Myriota, the Gunsmoke-J technology demonstration satellite for the U.S. Army, and two smaller cubesats. After deploying the satellites, the kick stage reconfigured itself into a Photon satellite bus, the second such test of that Rocket Lab platform. The company plans to test systems on that Photon that will be needed for the launch later this year of NASA's CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission.
Rocket Lab successfully launched six satellites and a second demonstration of its Photon satellite bus Monday. The Electron rocket lifted off from the company's New Zealand launch pad at 6:30 pm EDT (2230 GMT), deploying five satellites into a 550-kilometer orbit nearly an hour after liftoff and the sixth, a BlackSky imaging satellite, into a 450-kilometer orbit an hour later. The satellites on the mission included internet-of-things satellites for Fleet and Myriota, the Gunsmoke-J technology demonstration satellite for the U.S. Army, and two smaller cubesats. After deploying the satellites, the kick stage reconfigured itself into a Photon satellite bus, the second such test of that Rocket Lab platform. The company plans to test systems on that Photon that will be needed for the launch later this year of NASA's CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Pentagon places head of Space Development Agency on leave for investigation
Posted: Sun, Jan 19 10:25 AM ET (1525 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, January 21
Aegis Aerospace sending payload on the moon on Firefly mission
Houston Business Journal — 6:46 am ET (1146 GMT) Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base re-scheduled for Tuesday
KGET-TV Bakersfield, CA — 6:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Blue Origin goes orbital
Royal Aeronautical Society — 6:44 am ET (1144 GMT) SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit
UPI — 6:43 am ET (1143 GMT) Hawaiians, South Texans worry about more Starship launches
San Antonio Express-News — 6:41 am ET (1141 GMT) |
