Skip to main content

Rocket Lab ramps up satellite launch cycle to take on SpaceX

 

Rocket Lab is making a name for itself in the small-satellite launch sector as it seeks to take on the almighty SpaceX, among others.

Recommended Videos

The Los Angeles-based company in recent days completed its 12th commercial mission using its Electron rocket as it moves toward ramping up its launch frequency in the coming months.

Indeed, Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s New Zealand-born CEO, has just announced plans for the private space company’s 13th launch, scheduled to take place on July 3 or soon after.

The mission, called Pics Or It Didn’t Happen, will see the Electron lift off from Rocket Lab’s launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The back-to-back missions will represent Rocket Lab’s fastest turnaround between outings to date.

Satellite deployment

Pics Or It Didn’t Happen will deploy seven small satellites to low-Earth orbit for a number of customers, among them Spaceflight customer Canon Electronics, as well as Planet and In-Space Missions.

Canon Electronics’ CE-SAT-IB satellite will aim to demonstrate the company’s Earth-imaging technology featuring high-resolution and wide-angle cameras, and at the same time test the microsatellite for possible mass production.

The rideshare payload will also include five SuperDove satellites built by San Francisco-based Planet, operator of the world’s largest constellation of Earth-observation satellites. Interestingly, Planet recently took a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the deployment of three of its SkySat satellites in a mission that marked the debut outing for SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program.

The final satellite riding aboard the Electron comes from British firm In-Space Missions. The Faraday-1 6U CubeSat offers a low-cost route to orbit for startups, institutions, and large corporate R&D groups, with the mission designed to offer a demonstration of In-Space’s own software-defined payload that will enable uploadable payload capabilities on future missions.

Beck said that launching missions in quick succession will help to demonstrate Rocket Lab’s capability to provide dedicated and responsive space access to small-satellite customers.

Rocket Lab says it wants to offer customers launches every month, and is working to build a new Electron rocket every 18 days to fulfill that aim. It’s also working on a rocket recovery system that uses a helicopter to pluck a falling booster out of the sky as it falls back to Earth after launch (you can see a test run in the video at the top). Creating a reusable rocket system would allow the company to further reduce the cost of space transportation and allow it to prep new launches more quickly.

Other upcoming Rocket Lab missions include one for the U.S. Space Force later this year and, in 2021, a trip to the moon for NASA that will see the deployment of a CubeSat designed to explore the lunar orbit that will be occupied by the Gateway, a space station that could see astronauts orbiting the moon by 2025.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
These 6 rocket explosions show how SpaceX likes to roll
A Starship prototype explodes during testing.

The upper-stage of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket exploded in a massive fireball at its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, on Wednesday night. No one was hurt in the incident.

The vehicle was being prepared for the 10th flight test of the most powerful rocket in the world, which also includes the first-stage Super Heavy booster.

Read more
SpaceX suggests potential cause of huge Starship explosion
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft explodes at Starbase.

SpaceX has offered an update on the massive explosion which destroyed the Starship spacecraft on a test stand on Wednesday.

The dramatic explosion took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, during preparations for the Starship rocket’s 10th test flight, which was expected to take place in the coming weeks. No one was reported killed or injured in the incident.

Read more
SpaceX reveals new target date for private crewed launch to ISS
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket waits to launch the Ax-4 mission to the space station.

SpaceX, partnering with NASA and Axiom Space, is aiming to blast a four-person crew to orbit at 3:42 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 22.

The private Ax-4 mission was supposed to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on June 10, but inclement weather in the ascent corridor forced the mission team to call off the effort. A plan to launch 24 hours later was also ditched following the discovery of a liquid oxygen leak on the rocket.

Read more