Electron | Ready, Aim, PREFIRE (PREFIRE 1)
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Launch Window
May 25, 2024, 7:15 a.m. - May 25, 2024, 8:04 a.m.
May 25, 2024, 7:15 a.m. - May 25, 2024, 8:04 a.m.
First 6U Cubesat carrying a miniaturized IR spectrometer, covering 0- 45 μm at 0.84 μm spectral resolution, operating for one seasonal cycle for NASAs PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission.
Satellite in contact.
Satellite deployed.
Liftoff
Hold released
Hold due to ground wind limit violation
Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.
See DetailsRocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.
INFO WIKI
Rocket Lab launched the Ready, Aim, PREFIRE mission for NASA over the weekend from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in...
Rocket Lab launched the first of two NASA Earth science cubesats on an Electron rocket May 25, exactly seven years after the company’s first launch.
NASA is gearing up for back-to-back launches of cubesats designed to provide key data for improving models of the Earth’s climate.
Rocket Lab is preparing for back-to-back missions for NASA, which will see them launch twice within three weeks from Launch Complex 1...
NASA has selected Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California, to provide the launch service for the agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission, which aims to give researchers a more accurate picture o…
A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.
Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…
Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.
Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…
Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…
Sixth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to…
GPS-III (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known a…
4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.