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
|
|
Starship explodes during preparations for static-fire test
Posted: Sun, Jun 22 6:52 AM ET (1052 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, July 6
Starlink: The newest asset for rebel and jihadist groups in West Africa
Le Monde — 11:44 am ET (1544 GMT) Air Force suspends plan to land cargo rockets on remote Pacific atoll
Stars and Stripes — 11:41 am ET (1541 GMT) Nigeria’s Space Mission Must Be Strategic — Astrophysicist
News Agency of Nigeria — 11:39 am ET (1539 GMT) ndian space programme returns Rs 2.54 per Rs 1 spent
Organiser — 11:36 am ET (1536 GMT) Karnataka High Court quashes land acquisition proceedings for ISRO
Deccan Herald — 11:36 am ET (1536 GMT) |
