The mission lifted off as planned before the failure occurred.
U.S.-based company Rocket Lab has experienced an issue and failed to reach orbit with its latest launch, the company has confirmed.
Today, Saturday, July 4 at 9.21 P.M. Eastern Time, the company’s “Pics Or It Didn’t Happen” mission lifted off as planned from the company’s Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.
The primary payload on board was CE-SAT-1B, a satellite for Japanase company Canon Electronics. Also on the mission was the Faraday-1 satellite for U.K. company In-Space Missions, as well as five satellites for the U.S. Earth imaging company Planet.
The goal was to place the satellites into an orbit 500 kilometers above Earth. However, while the launch took place as planned, including separation of the second stage of the rocket, something subsequently went wrong.
“An issue was experienced today during Rocket Lab's launch that caused the loss of the vehicle,” Rocket Lab said in a short update on Twitter.
“We are deeply sorry to the customers on board Electron. The issue occurred late in the flight during the 2nd stage burn. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Problems emerged about four minutes into the flight, when a live video from the rocket was interrupted. The speed of the rocket then began to fall, along with a drop in altitude, before the mission’s failure was announced.
“We lost the flight late into the mission,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said on Twitter. “I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today. Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon.”
Beck's company had completed 11 successful missions so far.
The exact cause of the failure is not yet known. However, it is the company’s first failure on one of its commercial missions since it began full operations more than three years ago.
Prior to this flight, Rocket Lab had successfully reached orbit 11 times in a row. Its only other failure, its first-ever launch in May 2017 called It’s a Test, launched successfully but failed to reach orbit and was destroyed following a communications problem.
Since then the company has cemented itself as a key player in the small satellite launch market. The company’s 17-meter-tall Electron rocket, at $5.7 million per flight, can take satellites of up to 150 kilograms to altitudes of 500 kilometers.
The company is hoping to begin reusing the first stage of its rockets by catching them with a helicopter as they parachute back to Earth. Recent launches have provided useful data to the company for achieving that goal.
Rocket Lab also hopes to begin missions to the Moon in the near-future, with a lunar mission for NASA expected to launch in early 2021. And later this year, the company plans to begin launches from a new launch site in Virginia.
“Our hearts go out to all the teams who worked so hard on this mission,” U.S. company Spaceflight said in a statement, who procured space on the rocket for Canon Eletronics, regarding today's failure.
“We have faith in all our launch vehicles, including Electron, and look forward to many more successful launches with them.”
